A glimpse of Filmfare being unfair
The 2000s was an era where Saturdays and Sundays were for award shows. The whole family would sit together and watch their favorite stars win. People’s choice and critic’s choice have never been parallel. Audiences were in star traps and ignored the technicalities of a movie. However, there is a noticeable shift in the choice of people. A decade later, it is hard to please both the audience and the critics.
Lately, the audience and the critics both have a negative attitude towards the award shows. The reason is the recognition of prejudice in such ceremonies. Many actors and directors do not even attend the award show for the same reason.
Distinct award ceremonies:
India is the only country where a number of distinguished regional film industries exist. With different industries come different award shows. A couple of years back, South Indian movies were not even considered by Bollywood. As soon as some non-Hindi films turned out to be blockbusters at the box office, the Hindi cinema started including the South Indian cinema as a part of Indian cinema. It is ludicrous how all these years people have blindsided them and now call them one of us.
Though, the award shows are still limited to separate regional film industries. Bollywood wants to be included in the success but not gratify the holders of success. Without a doubt, if Hindi films award ceremonies would include South Indian movies, they would sweep all the awards.
The most important Hindi film awards are the Filmfare awards. It wouldn’t include any other regional film industry. Same as SIIMA Awards that are limited to the South Indian film industry. It is justifiable. But what about IIFA awards? Even the International Indian Film Academy Awards do not unite the various film industries of our country. The National Film Awards is the only ceremony that gives an equal stage to cinematic art of all our various film industries. Starting in the year 1954, the award ceremony is presented by the Directorate of Film Festivals annually. The Dadasaheb Phalke award is the highest cinematic achievement. It was named after Sir Dadsaheb Phalke who made the first Indian feature film ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in the year 1913. He is also known as the Father of Indian cinema.
Recalling some irrational moves:
The entertainment industry is used to Filmfare being phony and IIFA being an echo of a constant pattern. Every year the real talent of Bollywood is neglected in various ways. It is shocking to know some of the most versatile performances do not even make it up to the nominations in award shows.
This year’s Best Actor award at Filmfare awards was given to Ranveer Singh for 83. It was criticized and disliked by many. The audience’s choice was Siddharth Malhotra for Shershah. Shershah is Siddharth Malhotra’s best film undoubtedly and was loved by people because of the central theme being patriotism. 83 was a flop because it could not relate to more than 3-4 age groups. However, on the basis of acting, Kapil Dev’s role carried by Ranveer Singh is critically acclaimed and swept the Best Actor award this year. Though, this year’s Filmfare has been one of the most justified awards shows till now. The history of Filmfare is filled with unjust instances of award-winning. Backing up this statement, here are a few of them:
Ranbir Kapoor won the award for Best Actor for Barfi in the year 2013. While there were some other splendid performances like Manoj Bajpayee in Gangs of Wasseypur and Irrfan Khan in Paan Singh Tomar.
The one that stupefied the audience was the Filmfare awards of 2016. Even though Vicky Kaushal’s performance in Masaan was outstanding, Sooraj Pancholi won the award for Best Debut Male for his performance in Hero. Laugh out loud, it’s okay!
Brace yourself, people, the absurdity bomb is about to drop! In 2016, Sonam Kapoor was one of the nominees for Best Actress for her performance in Dolly ki Doli but Richa Chadha for her performance in Masaan did not even make it to the nominations.
Gully Boy was loved by the audience. But the same year, Ayushmann Khurrana’s Article 15 was also an exceptional movie. He won the Critics Award for Best Actor while Gully Boy won 13 awards including Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Film. These are the few occasions from the past 5-7 years and there still lies a record of such one-sidedness.
What do industry people think of award functions?
On the popular show Koffee with Karan, when asked about what award ceremonies in India were like, Anurag Kashyap termed it a ‘farce’.
On the podcast No Filter Neha, Rohit Shetty says, “If they pay me, I go. Genuinely. If they pay me ki make host Kar lo or if they give me an award, then I go. Otherwise no, because it’s all fake na, it’s all a tv show.”
In a conversation with Anupama Chopra from Film Companion, Saif Ali Khan says, “Honestly, if you ask me, there is no such thing as an awards function. It’s the biggest joke in the world.”
There are few actors that don’t attend such functions and many who only go for validation. On the contrary, the functions do entertain people and serve as a platform for trends and glamour.
“Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.”
– Jean-Luc Godard
Adding to the above quote, award ceremonies are even bigger fraud than cinema and sometimes they aren’t beautiful. Showbiz is a world of plastic. Realistic is a fresh term for the industry. Cinema is an integral part of the world and like every other profession, it progresses. The system progresses by exploring and acquiring adequate knowledge. The awards are achievements for actors but not all the time are given to the ones who deserve them. There is a history of bigotry in award ceremonies. After heaps of disappointments, there lies a notion of acceptance. Many artists know that people’s validation is the most important award. Some of them have successfully grasped the idea and therefore, award ceremonies become a frivolous crowd-puller.