The Countdown Begins

Almost unanimously, the academy — comprising music director Lalit Pandit, choreographer Saroj Khan, costume designer Niharika, set designer Nitin Desai, casting director Mukesh Chhabra, Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty, producers Champak Jain, Bhushan Kumar, Ramesh Taurani, Anjum Rizvi, Tanuj Garg, and director Mrigdeep Singh Lamba — singled out the films.

As witnessed over the last few years, selected movies are made by a mix of both established and new directors. There’s Queen with Kangna Ranaut as the protagonist, helmed by Vikas Bahl; Rajat Kapoor’s directorial venture Ankhon Dekhi; debutant director Nitin Kakkar’s Filmistaan; 2 States, also directed by a newcomer, Abhishek Verman. Then there are relatively bigger productions — Imtiaz Ali’s Highway, Rajkumar Hirani’s PK, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider and set designer-turned-director Omung Kumar’s Mary Kom — that are being considered for awards in technical and non-technical categories.

A few commercial blockbuster films too found representation such as Salman Khan-starrer Kick by producer-turned-director Sajid Nadiadwala; Mohit Suri’s Ek Villain; Farah Khan’s heist film Happy New Year starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone; Tiger Shroff’s launch vehicle Heropanti by Sabbir Khan, Shashank Khaitan’s Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania with Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, Homi Adajania’s film about five dysfunctional characters in Finding Fanny and Yash Raj Films’ Mardaani with Rani Mukerji in a powerful role.

The year’s slate also included some interesting projects such as debutant Soumik Sen’s Gulaab Gang, Shashanka Ghosh’s Khoobsurat, Shaad Ali’s Kill Dil, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s Happy Ending, among others. However, these films have found recommendation only in a few categories. The only film excluded from the selection process, unfortunately, is Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly, due to its late and unscheduled December release.

The interesting part of the pre-polls was that they reiterated the industry’s changing perception of cinema — small films driven by content now rub shoulders with big-budget blockbusters. Quite like the audience, the film industry is warming up to these sparklers.

With the 21st Annual Life OK Screen Awards inching closer, the excitement for the awards night, to be hosted by Shah Rukh Khan, is palpable. Adding to the excitement will be the list of jury nominations, to be unveiled in the next issue of Screen. The countdown has begun.