Srijato on Ramprasad fiasco: I alerted the organizers about their goof up

Just a few days back on Tagore's birthday, a post became viral on social media, where a song written by Srijato was attributed to Tagore. A new controversy took place in the same week. Srijato got the nomination for best lyricist for a song written by Sadhak Ramprasad Sen. He is surprised and irritated at the incident. An award show let him know about the nomination for a song in the film Manab Jamin. Srijato and the film's producer Rana Sarkar expressed displeasure on social media.

Rana wrote on Facebook, “It is Ramprasad after Rabindranath...Srijato Bandyopadhyay can not be stopped. You still could not handle Satyajit Ray, Srijit Mukhopadhyay!” 

Srijato shared a long note on Facebook. He wrote, “When Tele Cine Awards' nomination of the song Mon re Krishikaj Jano Na came to my phone, I was busy with the work of an ad. Hence I did not open it for some time. Then I opened the letter and saw the faux pas. I tried to contact the concerned individuals and tell them about it. Through my film's producer Rana Sarkar, I talked with the organization's secretary Mrinmay Kanjilal. I told them that they committed a huge mistake, and hence I can't accept the nomination, let alone the award. He admitted the mistake and said that it would be rectified as soon as possible. He expressed regrets to me. But in the meantime, the letter's copy went viral on social media. I do now know how this was possible, but everything is possible nowadays. Hence the incident became a center of discussion.” 

The poet further added, “Nothing is the center of attention for a long time here. It comes down to the level of trolling and personal attacks. I could not take calls from my friends in the media because of being busy the entire day. But I felt that something was cooking. I came back home late at night and saw some of those. Many writings were there. The letter's copy was viral in the Whatsapp groups. That is not unnatural. But I have one thing to say. It reflects surprising ignorance and carelessness for nominating me for a song written by Ramprasad. But it is equally uncultured to attack me for this. Firstly, many people assumed that I would get and accept the award. They probably do now know the difference between nomination and win. They also do not know how many stages there are between these two. They also do not know that a nomination is beyond an individual's acceptance or refusal, which is relevant only when someone is awarded.” 

Srijato said that he opposed the nomination. He also said that the award show nominated him for another song, but that does not rectify their mistake. He wrote, “They nominated me for another song of the same film (I keep the photo here). They surely know that this does not remove the grave blunder. They are held responsible after the matter becomes public, which is natural. I do not know whether they officially admitted the mistake anywhere. I opposed the nomination and it worked.” 

Rana also opposed this and demanded his film Manab Jamin be removed from all the categories of the award show. He wrote on Facebook 'Admit it if you are wrong. Publicly seek an unconditional apology. If you give lofty dialogues, I will open Pandora's Box. I do not need any footage from the organizers. They have to raise money by promising awards. As a protest against such an insult to Ramprasad, we are not accepting any nominations for our film Manab Jamin. We request the organizers to remove the film's name from everywhere at the Tele Cine Awards. We do not want your nomination or award.'