Three prominent FTII alumni on Wednesday decided to return their National Awards in protest against what they termed "an atmosphere of intolerance" in the country in the past few months.

Vikrant Pawar of Maharashtra, Rakesh Shukla of Uttar Pradesh and Prateek Vats of Goa are the three alumni who will return their awards. The decision came shortly after students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) announced that they would return to classes after a 139-day long strike, but would continue their agitation peacefully to protest against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the institute's chairman.