Mumbai Jan 8 (AHN) Filmmaker Rohit Shetty has expressed how despite delivering superhits, the director has never won any awards.

The ace filmmaker recently graced the event of The Indian National Cine Academy (INCA), where he quipped, “Mere aur awards ka door-door tak koi rishta-naata nahi hai. 17 filmein ho gayi hai, sirf hosting ke liye jaata hoon (There is absolutely no connection between me and awards. I have done 17 films and only been invited there for hosting).”

Actor Manoj Tiwari who also attended the event, elaborated on his experience of the concept of awards.

He said, “I worked in a Bhojpuri film in 2004. It was made in Rs. 30 lakhs and it ended up doing a business of Rs. 54 crores! Yet, neither the director got a single award nor its writer was honoured (laughs). Even the actor (himself) didn’t win any award. Hence, I’d like to thank Vishnu.”

Manoj Tiwari continued, “We have always been told in this country ki hamesha ek lambi line kheench dijiye. Woh Vishnu ne kiya hai. I am fully aware of the capability of Mr Vishnu Induri. We in Bihar do watch Hindi cinema. We have a population of 34 crore Bhojpuri residents. We did not know who worked in Chennai or Hyderabad. Vishnu gave us a platform and now we know everyone. Hence, I believe that INCA is a big step and it’ll be something to watch out for.”

For the uninitiated, INCA seeks to foster collaboration, knowledge-sharing, transparency, and credible recognition across languages, regions, and crafts.

The announcement of INCA was made in the presence of leading filmmakers, producers, artists, and cultural voices from across the country, including Rohit Shetty, Anand L Rai, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Dil Raju, Manoj Tiwari, Navraj Hans, Manmohan Shetty, Khushbu Sundar, Lakshmi Manchu, Ankur Garg, Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Shibasish Sarkar, among several other eminent voices from across a broad spectrum of professions along with the Producers Guild of India coming on board as the Chief Patron of the initiative.

Speaking at the announcement, Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Founder of INCA, said, “INCA is being built with intent, integrity, and purpose. Our goal is to create a permanent national institution that enables collaboration across industries, celebrates excellence fairly, and builds a universal talent database for Indian cinema.”

Commenting on the association, Shibasish Sarkar, President, Producers Guild of India, said, “INCA represents an important step towards institutionalizing collaboration, credibility, and transparent processes in building an unified Awards platform that celebrates all Indian languages equally and credibly. The Guild is pleased to support this initiative as Chief Patron.”

The first edition of the INCA Awards has been announced to be held on March 9 in Mumbai, marking a significant milestone in the journey of this new national institution.

Talking about Indian National Cine Academy, it goes beyond being an awards platform and is structured as a national ecosystem for Indian cinema, comprising an annual Cinema Conclave, a transparent and process-driven awards framework, and the creation of a universal database of actors, technicians, and creative professionals across twelve Indian film industries. This database aims to enable cross-industry and cross-regional collaboration, strengthening the Indian film ecosystem.