FILMFARE AWARDS 2008

The first thing I did after waking up on Sunday March 1st was to grab the Sunday Times and check the results of the Idea 54th Filmfare Awards. The awards were held at the Yash Raj Studios a day before (Feb 28) and since I wasn’t invited for it (!!), I didn’t know who won so was very keen to know the results!

And I feel that it was little disappointing. That’s because ‘A Wednesday!’, which struck a chord with so many people throughout the country, didn’t fetch a single award! Naseeruddin Shah without a shred of doubt deserved theBest Actor in a Leading Role (Critic). But instead, it was given away to Manjot Singh, who played young Lucky in ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’! SHOCKING! I am not saying thatManjot Singh’s performance wasn’t upto the mark, but Naseer’s performance was surely much better than that of Manjot’s. In fact, ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ bagged 4 awards, including Best Production Design, which was again bewildering. Jodhaa Akbar should have got it, undoubtedly.

The event was telecasted on Sunday, March 8. I had a fun watching the awards as it was well executed and scripted. The first award of the evening, surprisingly, went to the film everyone hated- Love Story 2050 for Best Visual Effects! The young hosts,Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, brought the house down with their funny gags and one-liners. The high points of the show were:

1. Imran and Ranbir’s hosting of the show!

   
   




2. Darsheel Safary hailed as ‘Future of Bollywood’, much to the displeasure of the young hosts (it was a part of the script)

   
   




3. A R Rahman, Bhanu Athaiya and Om Puri receiving standing ovation, when they came on stage (Rahman to bag the Best Music Award while the other two for Lifetime Achievement Award)

   
   




4. Om Puri and Ronnie Screwvala’s amazing speech on stage

   
   




5. Shahrukh Khan on stage, who cracked some jokes and then even facilitated the Slumdog kids

   
   




6. Best Actor (Critic) winner Manjot Singh’s Thank You speech!

   
   




7. Katrina Kaif’s sizzling performance

   
   

Ronnie Screwvala and his UTV came out as winners ultimately! The four films of UTV (Jodhaa Akbar, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Fashion, ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’) received total 14 awards! Although ‘A Wednesday!’(also UTV's film), was ignored, it was good to see a film like Mumbai Meri Jaan winning 3 awards. Let’s hope next year’s Filmfare is equally entertaining and has better choices of winners!

---------------------------

JAI VEERU-HOLI ATTRACTION?!

Yesterday, the film Jai Veeru was to release nationwide inspite it was a Wednesday and not a Friday! The producer (Shyam Bajaj) had termed the film as ‘Holi Attraction’. I found this highly funny because who goes to see a film on Holi? People are either indulged in playing Holi with their friends and families or sit at home. No one ventures out to a nearby theatre to see a film and even if in a rare case, a person does go, he would certainly not seeJai Veeru!! However, better sense prevailed and it seems on Monday, Bajaj cancelled the release of the film on Wednesday. Now the film will release tomorrow (Mar 13) on Friday.

I distinctly remember last year Holi was on a Saturday, March 22. Race had released a day before (Mar 21). The theatres in my area had cancelled the early morning and afternoon shows of Race and shows resumed, only post-4pm. Movies certainly have high chances of doing a great job at the BO during festivals, but Holi is an exception!