Award shows in India have for long been seen as a sham with recent awards like International Icon of the Year and Best Social Media Handle not really helping them redeem their reputation. They probably don’t care either because at the end of the day - it's just creating software for television. But the Filmfare Awards do still carry some amount of credibility. But the recent awards show felt like it a bit of a disappointment. Here are some of the problems we had with the awards and the nominations:
1)Why was 'Manmarziyaan' given a cold shoulder?
So the Anurag Kashyap directorial was very received by critics, but failed to garner any nomination in any of the major categories at the Filmfare Awards. This included best film, best screenplay, best actress for Taapsee Pannu and best director for Anurag. Is this because the film was not a box office success? When did that become the yardstick for cinematic excellence?
2) Why was Taapsee not nominated for best actress?
So Taapsee Pannu’s performance as Rumi was considered as one of the best female acting performances of the year but failed to garner even a nomination even in the popular category. Instead they chose to nominate her in the critics choice category for 'Mulk' as a compensation for not nominating her in the popular category. Why would you ignore a performance that's as compelling as Deepika's in 'Padmaavat' or Alia's in 'Raazi'?
3) Lead actor vs Supporting actor - How do you decide your criteria?
So Gajraj Rao wins the best supporting actor while Neena Gupta wins the best actress in a leading role (Critics) for their performance in 'Badhaai Ho'. From what I remember they both had equal parts, so why are they slotted in different categories?
4) Why is there a need to keep everyone happy?
If diluting the awards by having a winner under popular and critics choice wasn't enough this time they decided to give multiple awards under the same category. So under Best supporting actor Gajraj Rao wins for 'Badhaai Ho' and Vicky Kaushal for 'Sanju' respectively, and under the best actor in a leading role (Critics) Ranveer Singh wins for 'Padmaavat' and so does Ayushmann Khurrana for 'Andhadhun'. What's the point of having an award if you're handing trophies out left right and centre?
These were some of the questions we had, watch the video to find out the others!
Camera: Sanjoy Deb
Video Editor: Ashish MacCune
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