Once again, the announcements of this year’s National Film Awards recipients have left us in a tizzy. Remember Akshay Kumar’s getting Best Actor for Rustom? I wish I didn’t.
It’s happened again this year with a plethora of WTF wins. From the mawkish, jingoistic Uri: The Surgical Strike winning both Best Director and Best Actor to an unreleased Gujarati film winning Best Feature Film – it seems this year’s National Film Awards were trying to appease to one side of the political aisle. And very visibly so.
Here’s my take on the recipients of the major awards in sequential order whom I’ve fittingly placed into two categories – “I Concur” and “Hell Fucking No, Bitch!”
THE “I CONCUR” AWARD RECIPIENTS
Best Supporting Actress – Surekha Sikri in Badhaai Ho
Surekha Sikri was inarguably the heart and soul of Bahaai Ho. Her bon mots made us laugh and cry in equal measure (bitch even made me fall on the floor laughing in the theater!) playing a sansakari grandmother who must contend with the news of her middle age son and daughter-in-law’s pregnancy. Sikri, who has now won three National Award winners placing her in the upper echelons of Bollywood thespians (and deservedly so), had both impeccable comedic timing and a flair for pulling our heartstrings in the film’s more emotionally trenchant scenes.
Every award that Andhadun got.
A miracle of a film that deserved every award it got and then some.
Best Malayalam Film – Sudani from Nigeria
A tender, heartfelt film that doesn’t stray too far from the usual “fish-out-of-water” storyline tropes but manages to nonetheless shine within strict genre parameters.
Best Male Playback Singer – Arijit Singh for Binte Dil from Padmaavat
Singh has long proven to be one of the greatest singers Bollywood to ever deign our multiplex screens but in Binte Dil he challenged himself vocally in a way he’s never done before. Singh moulded his signature, towering Sufi voice to suit a song with notable Arabic influences – and the results are remarkably authentic and moving.
THE “HELL FUCKING NO, BITCH” AWARD RECIPIENTS
Best Actor – Vicky Kaushal in Uri: The Surgical Strike
I wholeheartedly believe that the reason Kaushal received the award was less because of his great performance and more to do with the fact that the film was an unabashed love letter to India’s nationalistic ruling party.
Best Director – Aditya Dhar for Uri: The Surgical Strike
Politics come into play once more here. The film wasn’t by any means, terrible, but it getting one of the most coveted awards at the National Film Awards is placating in the highest form.
Best Film On Other Social Issues – Pad Man
Seeing an alpha male superstar like Akshay Kumar putting on maxi pads and tampons in a film to drive home the message that most menstruating Indian women cannot afford either, deserves a thunderous applause. Not to downplay the incredible feat that Kumar pulled, but it takes a real man to put on a maxi pad and talk seriously and candidly about “female issues”.
Still, you can’t help but feel a whiff of foul play here given that this is the same jury who believed Aditya Dhar deserved the Best Director award for Uri and that Kumar has been the unofficial Bollywood poster boy for India’s nationalistic, right-wing ruling party.
This begs the question “did Akshay Kumar strap on a maxi pad to open a dialogue about India’s burgeoning feminine hygiene products problem or did he do it to stir up even more nationalism as he tried to do in this year’s snooze of a film, Kesari?”
Best Feature Film – Hellaro (Gujarat)
The most coveted award went to a film that hasn’t even been released yet? Yeah, I’m gonna let that one simmer for a while. Upon seeing which state in India the film was made, I immediately understood why.
ARTWORK BY RACHNA RAVI
