And the award goes to……………….

This is the awards time of the year. This is the time when achievers of the last year will be awarded, appreciated and applauded for their good work. In fact last evening itself I watched the CJ awards held by CNN-IBN news channel and both, the nominees and winners all had an incredible story and achievement to their credit. But right now I’m going to talk about film awards.

Filmfare awards are the oldest film awards in the country. National awards, given out by the Government of India are also extremely prestigious and unlike Filmfare cater to the regional language films as well, in addition to hindi and English made Indian films. Along with these two, a few have mushroomed in the last decade. They all are Channel awards (some hindi entertainment channel is the brain behind each award). But it’s good news for the nominees. Each one of them gets to win somewhere or the other!!
And this is what actually bothers me. There is no benchmark or standard as far as Indian film awards are concerned. People actually watch it for performances and the general entertainment they provide, but there is no belief that the winners actually deserve it. It’s all a good, glamorous time pass.

Okay, look at Filmfare awards. Till the end of 80s, they still had some ethical value. In the year 1984, the top five films in the Best Film category were: Ardh Satya, Arth, Avtar, Betaab and Masoom, and the winner was not the superhit Betaab, but the critically acclaimed Ardh Satya. Or the year 1978 had the evergreen blockbuster Amar Akbar Anthony as one of the nominees in the Best Film category, but the winner was Bhumika, one of the finest films by Shyam Benegal and definitely not as equivalent money grosser as Manmohan Desai’s AAA. Compare it to, 1990. The winner was Maine Pyar Kiya, inspite of the fact that Mira Nair’s Oscar nominated Salaam Bombay was also in contention. Or in 1997, when Raja Hindustani, (a remake of 1965 Shashi Kapoor starrer Jab Jab Phool Khile) won ahead of Bandit Queen and Khamoshi- A Musical. Ironically, the original wasn’t even nominated in its own year.

There are actors who have won because of all the reasons under the sun, but for acting. They are star kids, related to people in the industry, have good relations with people who matter, etc., etc. Every bit matters, but if you’re a good actor, that may not help. I can right now cite a dozen or more examples. Anurag Kashyap directed Black Friday won the Grand Jury award at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and was a nominee for the Best Film (Golden Leopard) award at the Locarno International Film Festival, but wasn’t worth a nomination at the Indian Oscars. Shahrukh Khan’s performance in Chak De!India was widely recognized, but Aditya Srivastava’s work as Badshah Khan in Black Friday wasn’t even considered. Why should I only pinpoint Filmfare? All these channel awards, which claim to be different and ethical, are a step ahead. They create new categories, like consistent performer, fresh face along with Best Debut, and many more, so that everybody wins. Wow!! Such strong faith in equality and equal rights of all. Amazing!!

And then the national awards have also gone down as far as standard is concerned, sadly. Recently the 56th National Film awards were announced. Priyanka Chopra won for the film Fashion. The same award was given to Umashree for Gulabi Talkies, last year, Sarika for Parzania in 2006, Seema Biswas for Bandit Queen in 1996, etc., etc. Is it really believable that Priyanka Chopra’s performance in the film was really of that standard as these earlier winners? Shreya Ghoshal has won for the fourth time. It’s great because she is really melodious, but twice she has won for duet songs, where the male singer (Sonu Nigam for Dheere Jalna and Babul Supriyo for Pherari Mon) hasn’t won. The point is these were duet songs, where both the singers complimented each other and both are the reasons, along with the music director and lyricist for the success of the song. How come it’s concluded that one of them has sung better than the other? In fact in every category, every year there is some discrepancy or the other. And it’s really annoying to see absolutely unworthy people winning over commendable performers. Why take the pains of constituting a jury, when at the end of the day having one’s mother as the Censor Board’s chief or the presence of a relative or friend amongst the panel, can ensure awards? Place an auction, where clout, power or money can get one anything and everything. At least that won’t demean the real, worthy winners. We would know for sure, why somebody won. Some really strong words from my side, no?? Can’t help it, my anger is coming out in words.

Aamir Khan is regularly mocked and joked about for his absence from the popular awards and his presence in the international awards like Oscars, BAFTA, etc. Why would an actor of his caliber, who is regularly ignored at the awards care about the “unreal appreciation”? I’m not at all trying to convince that Oscars are better and side with them. There is a lot of politics, behind the scene work even there. But even then, the standard of the winners is something to look at. Meryl Streep is the most nominated actor in the history of the Academy Awards. This year she has been nominated for the record 16th time. Given the fact that she is considered as one of the finest actors of all time, she has won only twice. For the rest of the 13 times, she lost. May be not always to a worthy competitor, but most of the times, yes, the winning performances have been really worthy of the coveted award. When she transformed into the monstrous, perfectionist boss in Devil Wears Prada, we loved to hate her; but the eventual winner was Helen Mirren, who played Queen Elizabeth II to perfection in The Queen or Hillary Swank’s win for Boys Don’t Cry was far hugely applauded ahead of Streep’s performance in Music of the Heart.
The point is even if there might be some error here or there, at the end of that day cinema is a form of art. The business perspective or a film’s monetary gains cannot and should not decide about the artistic value or further appreciation of it. Just because a film has been a commercial success doesn’t mean that creatively or technically it’s a good film. Who can forget the fact that Raj Kapoor’s dream project Mera Naam Joker was a commercial disaster, so much so that RK Films were in great financial crisis? Today, the same movie is considered as one of the best ever made in the history of Indian cinema and a must watch for every film student.
In short, let this art form speak for itself. How can financial gains determine the winners? Award; appreciate those who truly deserve it, whose performances have moved all, people whose creative and technical contributions to the film has made it a complete venture. Let there be uniformity and real value to the awarding system and consequently, the awardees.