Screen Awards: Waiting for the Big Night

Now going a step further,Screen,for the first time has formed the Screen Selection Academy with eminent members from the fraternity. A team of 30 people with diverse opinions will go through the year’s releases and shortlist 25 films. It is an attempt to avoid discrepancies and also to make sure that no films are left out. Be it the big-budget entertainers or small-budget cinema,all the films will be taken into consideration,the only criterion being that they should be released between January 1and December 31,2010.

Besides the Academy,the core Jury will also be watching the releases of this year. What the Academy’s shortlist will do is serve as a ready reckoner for the Jury members. The Jury can consult the Academy’s shortlist before making their final choice. Also,the members of the Academy may or may not be a part of this year’s releases but the people who form the core jury are not involved with the films of 2010. It’s heartening that the idea of an Academy on the lines of the Oscars has got an overwhelming feedback from the industry.

Being the first awards to be held each year,the Screen Awards have always set a benchmark as far as nominations and winners go. For instance,Paa,which was adjudged the best film at the 16th Annual Nokia Star- Screen Awards went on to bag many awards including the National Award. Even Vidya Balan who was chosen as the Best Actor (Female) for her performance in Paa turned out to be the winner at all the award functions. Which,in short,means that Screen Jury shoulders a huge responsibility. Not a mean feat at all. No wonder,all eyes are now trained on the next Star-Screen awards.

With 2010 seeing some Goliaths of the film industry take a beating at the box-office and newbies impressing with both formulaic and off-beat films,it’s been an entirely unpredictable year. But unpredictability is the nature of filmi business,which is why 2009 was considered a brave year. Paa that had Amitabh Bachchan playing a 13-year old afflicted with a rare disease Progeria broke the norms of formulaic films and went on to win many awards including the National Award for the actor. At the Nokia 16th Annual Star-Screen Awards,the film almost swept the acting categories with Bachchan,Vidya Balan and Arundhati Nag bagging the Best Actor (Male),Best actor (Female) and Best Supporting Actor (Female).

The other film that walked away with the maximum awards was the Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots,which scored a total of nine including Best Director for Rajkumar Hirani,Best Film,Best Screenplay and Best Dialogue. The find of the film Omi Vaidya notched up two awards for his turn as Chatur Ramalingam,one for Best Actor in a Comic Role and another for Most Promising Newcomer. Boman Irani’s impressive outing as the dean,got him the award for Best actor in a Negative Role. Anurag Kashyap’s modern take on Devdas,Dev.D,Imtiaz Ali’s romcom Love Aaj Kal and Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance also cornered a significant share of the trophies.

A Kodak moment occurred when Javed Akhtar received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Amitabh Bachchan and Yash Chopra – the three tasted success together in Deewaar and others. “A circle has been completed today,” said Akhtar.

We are sure the flashback of 2009 awards has whetted your curiosity about the upcoming awards. With only 10 days left for the year to end,the countdown has begun for the prestigious 17th Annual Star-Screen Awards. Calls are coming in enquiring about the jury and nominations. It won’t be a long wait,we promise. While the esteemed Jury members will be revealed only on the day of the awards,rest assured that the nominations of the first awards of the season will be out in the forthcoming issues. So watch out!