The act of returning awards received by Government organisations as a mark of protest against growing intolerance in the country and the alleged inaction of the Union Government of India to check acts and speeches of intolerance reached a new lever as a group of esteemed filmmakers of India announced their decision to return the National awards they have received from the Indian Government.

Following suit, Arunmozhi, the co-producer and writer of the 1982 National award winning Tamil film 'Ezhavathu Manidhan' also stated his willingness to return the award won by his film.

However, today, the legendary actor and filmmaker Kamal Haasan who has won four National awards has said he would not join the bandwagon of this form of protest calling it a "futile exercise".

He further noted that intolerance has been always there in the country andit has to be countered intellectually in the form of debates and discussions.

It is worth noting that the Ulaganayagan is a filmmaker who has been one of the most affected victims of religious intolerance in the country. His recent films 'Viswaroopam' and 'Uttama Villain' faced huge hurdles caused by the protests of Muslim and Hindu outfits respectively.