NEW DELHI: Noted lyricist and screenwriter Prasoon Joshi has spoken out against the spree of awards being returned by writers, saying he was saddened by politics over literary honours.
"Politics over literary honours is sad. An artiste should be remembered for his work and not for returning awards," he said in a statement.
"If an artiste expresses himself through his work, it has got more grace," he added.
The comments by Joshi, who is recipient of several honours including IIFA awards for "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" movie, come against the backdrop of a spree of awards being returned by a number of Sahitya Akademi writers and some others as a protest against the killing of a writer in Bengaluru.
The government and BJP have described the protest as "manufactured" and questioned why there was no such agitation when the democracy was suspended and fundamental rights crushed during Emergency or when Sikhs were slaughtered in Delhi in 1984 under Congress rule.