Writers and filmmakers usually protest through their work. What has prompted so many to turn activists and return awards now?
I think all of us - you, me and the average silent Joe on the street - are extremely afraid of what is going on in India today. I have heard sentiments of fear expressed by people irrespective of whether they voted for Congress or BJP.  People who voted BJP in the hope of an alternative to the absolute inertia and corruption of the Congress are now expressing extreme anguish over the state of the economy, public safety and the manner in which any view is being expressed with extreme violence. A rightist has every right to disagree with leftists. But in a democracy nobody should be killed for their views. And if that happens, the government must be agile and act fast. That urgency and agility is not being seen. But I know there are people within the current government who want the situation to be different. Things can only change if the average Indian wants them to. If the situation persists, day by day it will become harder to effect change.

It is being alleged that the returning of awards was politically motivated and timed with the Bihar elections.
No. This has nothing to do with elections or parties. I deeply want BJP as a viable and successful national alternative. The more national alternatives we have, the better for democracy. I would want neither the Congress nor the BJP to be the only viable national party. My film Shanghai highlights the problems of Mumbai under successive Congress governments. I want all BJP supporters who are smart, aware and constructive not to look at this protest as politically motivated but one that is fundamentally about the education we impart to our students.

Anupam Kher's tweet says filmmakers returning awards insults the jury that selected them.
I know Anupamji very well and we are good friends. If there has been any insult to the jury, my apologies to them. But my conscience tells me I am not insulting the jury. I am trying to raise the level of consciousness of the writers and filmmakers that were part of the jury and the larger body of citizenry. If they find that someone to whom they had given a national award, and who has nothing personal against any of them, wants to return it, they will want to know why I am doing so. I am doing it because the education of what I hold dear is being governed not by merit but by political agendas.

Some say the FTII student stir is basically a left-wing rejection of a right-wing chairperson.
If BJP MP Paresh Rawal or party supporter Anupam Kher were made FTII chairperson, do you think these protests would have taken place at this level? Between Paresh Rawal and Gajendra Chauhan, who would one imagine, instinctively, as more qualified to head FTII? I do not care whether the chairperson is affiliated with the current party in power or the previous one. Students questioned whether Chauhan had a body of work to his credit that qualified him to head the institution. Students had also objected to four members appointed to the FTII panel whose very bio data shows that their work propagates a monochromatic view and pushes the political agenda of the party they support in a very violent and rabid manner. Individually, they have every right to do what they want to further a political ideology. But it is not their job to teach cinema or sit on the apex body of India's premiere film institute.

The religious Right usually cites Indian culture and tradition to back their cause. Yet you use the same argument to justify the FTII protest.
When it comes to imparting an education, we want it to be unbiased. This means all cultural thought is offered up equally. The tenets of the Indian education system were developed well before Left or Right came into existence. A teacher who spoke of one school or philosophy also spoke of another. Debates and arguments are part of India's culture. You see this in the Upanishads which are a series of arguments between the vaadi and vivaadi (opposing chords). The Gita is a series of questions between Arjun and Krishna, as friends. Whether Right or Left, one can easily see the need for unbiased teaching, for which a teacher must have a history of work that allows for a breadth of knowledge that gives the student a complete picture of the discipline. If this is absent, students will not respect the teacher and the education will not be valid.