Okay, so maybe the Oscars aren't so bad after all. And I say this having watched less than half of the show. Ellen DeGeneres was hilarious for whatever little I saw of her, and Al Gore's appearance with Leornado DiCaprio had me in splits. I know I may have been just a little critical of the Academy Awards in my post two weeks ago, but that was just a one-time disinterested musing. Alright alright, I know I'm thoroughly indicted by my post - the internet never lies; I was positively, passionately scathing of the ceremony, and kept repeating that I saw no point to the entire exasperating exercise (at least most of my predictions turned out to be right. Hurray to that!). But that was before I had the rather rare chance of watching the Oscars just hours after being witness to the monstrosity that was the Filmfare Awards night. And trust me, watching the Filmfares is truly a sobering experience. One learns to appreciate the good in other things, like the Oscar ceremony, for instance, or even the color of the sky, for that matter.
The Filmfare Awards lost their relevance many years ago, a fact commemorated most notably by Aamir Khan getting the snub for his breathtaking performance in Rangeela, which was followed, quite shockingly, by a dignified Aamir Khan tantrum. But this year, the Awards were not just irrelevant; they were farcical. The nominations list was an ominous enough warning - why on earth were there six nominations in the Best Film, Director and Actor categories? Were there too many filmmakers and actors to please? And why oh why oh why did Sanjay Gadhvi get a nod for Dhoom 2? That, for me, is the Puzzle of the Millennium, one that will probably never find an answer. And wait, it gets worse. I could accept Shahrukh Khan getting a nomination for KANK; he is, after all, Shahrukh Khan - getting two nominations every year is his privileged birthright, as is, it seems now, his right to host the evening year after year after year. But one of the best movies of the year, if not the best, Dor, being completely ignored, was nothing short of scandalous. Hrithik Roshan getting a nod for Krrish was a bit difficult to digest, but him getting a nomination for DHOOM 2, where all everyone had to do was look cool and wear designer clothes, very nearly made me die of shock. To top it all, Aishwarya Rai too got nominated for Dhoom 2, ( and failed to get any recognition whatsoever for her breakthrough performance in Umrao Jaan), and that was really the point when it all started to look like one, big, expensive joke to me.
Things couldn't possibly have got worse from there, but they did. The actual ceremony was a shining example of poor media coverage and tacky TV presentation. It was disorganized, jerky, COMPLETELY unprofessional, and a whole bunch of other unsavory adjectives. Shahrukh Khan as the host was moderately funny, but the choices of the jury were even funnier. Prasoon Joshi getting the Best Lyrics award for the song Chand Sifarish from Fanaa, a song which, according to my Urdu expert mom is nothing more than a collection of a few fancy Urdu words randomly put together with no rhyme or sense whatsoever, was a shocking insult to the likes of Javed Akhtar and Gulzar, of all people. Omkara, Vishal Bharadwaj's cinematic masterpiece, was fobbed off with the insignificant Critics'/Supporting Actor awards. And Lage Raho Munnabhai, one of the best movies produced in Bollywood in the last decade or so, went home with a pathetic haul of just ONE award. Seriously, are the Filmfare jurists a bunch of Yash Chopra employees? How else could one possibly explain Hrithik Roshan getting the Best Actor award for (roll the drums) DHOOM 2??? Kareena Kapoor's shimmering performance in Omkara was overlooked in favor of Kajol's less-than-remarkable turn as the blind-girl-who-gets-her-eyesight-back-in-the-second-half in Fanaa (which, incidentally, is again a Yash Chopra production). Just about the only thing the jurists got right was in giving the Power award to, you guessed it right, Yash Chopra. That's one award no one's going to grudge you, Mr. Chopra - you've definitely shown last night what real power is. And oh, did I forget mentioning Abhishek Bachchan winning Best supporting Actor for KANK? Perhaps Mr. Karan Johar should also have been given a Power award (I kinda love the flashy name, don't you? POWER award...I bet Mr. Chopra feels like the king of the world now).
Clearly, awards functions in India are nothing more than please-as-many-important-people-in-Bollywood-as-you-can drills. It's hardly a wonder then that real actors like Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan give them a thoroughly deserved miss. I only wish Kareena Kapoor, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani and Nagesh Kukunoor decide to do so too, after the monumental snubs handed to them this year. And puh-lease, people should STOP calling the Filmfares India's equivalent to the Oscars.
Speaking of the Oscars, as I said earlier, most of my predictions turned out to be right. The Departed was the big winner, bagging the Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay awards - a pretty neat haul! The only surprising winners were The Lives Of Others, the German movie which stole the Best Foreign Language Picture award from hot favorite Pan's Labyrinth, and the startlingly dull Happy Feet, which trumped the genuinely funny (and bigger box office success, may I add) Cars in the Best Animated Picture category. But everything else went true to form, with both Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker, the winners in acting, giving sparkling speeches. On the whole, a well-organized, somewhat classy and very glamorous evening. How the Filmfare organizers must be ruing their decision to hold their little horror show the same day as the Oscars! You should die of shame, you Filmfare people.
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