It's time to STOP pleasing Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan! 5 things that Bollywood awards need to learn from the Oscars to get their act right!
...'cos it's high time that they need to stop making fun of our cinematic sensibilities.
I remember there was a time in my childhood when I used to wait fervently and excitedly for Filmfare awards, then with a prefix of Manikchand as well (it was the time, before the world suddenly realised OMG! they make tobacco...they should be banned!).
There were two reasons for my excitement. First reason was that it was the only time I could see so many stars in a single screen (BTW, I also loved watching Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, the old version, for precisely the same reason). Secondly, I found then that the award show was unpredictable. Okay, maybe I was an innocent kid then, and I had no idea that award shows can be fixed', but I did feel so. But I may be right, because at the time, all the nominees would attend the show, and you could really seen the tension on their faces before the names were announced. Unlike today, when most of the nominees don't even turn up, cos they know who would be the winner. Not to mention, the innumerable award shows copying the same format!
Every award show in this country aims to be Oscars, at least that what the organisers claim when they start one. However, not only are they leagues behind the biggest prestigious award of the world, they are becoming so gimmicky, that viewers are more interested in seeing the performances than the awards. This is sad, because the award functions are one the best way that could make filmmakers push for a better quality film. But instead they chose to felicitate the less crappy among the crappiest!
Here are 5 things that our award shows should do if they have to be started considering serious and worthy enough to be called India's...sorry, Bollywood's answers to Oscars!
Have shorter ceremonies!
Let's start off with the easier things to do. For starters, why do we have such long ceremonies with so many acts, and just cut to the chase? Sure, people loves to get entertained, and we love to see the performances of our favourite stars, as they set the stage on fire. But if we could just reduce the number of acts (diminishing it to nil is nearly impossible, because they want to cater to the masses...see the next point), it would make the format a lot less crispier and easy to digest. A good host, like say a Shah Rukh Khan, is enough to keep you fairly entertained. Also remember, the recently concluded Golden Globes Awards didn't have a single performing act, and still it was so much engrossing. Even the Oscars just have max 3-4 acts, and rely on their good host to keep the show engaging!
STOP the TRP garnering business!
Has it happened that when Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is shown on stage, the camera suddenly shifts to Salman Khan, who is sitting in the audience, rolling his eyes or smiling weirdly? Do you think it was happening at the same time? Then you, my friend, are being fooled!
When Lady Gaga brushed past Leonardo Dicaprio when she went to receive her award, and the actor eye-rolled at her back...that's an unscripted moment. However in the case of our award shows, Salman might not even be on the scene when Ash got on stage, yet with the help of some clever editing using previously shot footage, you have a perfectly scripted moment! Any why do they do this? Because of you, audience! You want to watch these moments, don't you? Unlike Oscars, which is one live televised affair editing off only those portions that just add to the running time, here, we edit to please the viewers and get the TRPS.
Oscars have both quality and TRPS, while our shows are just stuck with the latter!
Curb the number of award shows...or change the format
In Bollywood, we have Filmfare awards, Sansui awards, Screen awards, IIFA awards, Zee cine Awards etc etc. and by the time the award ceremonies get over, voila! We have 2017! And the drama starts again!
So what, you will say...even Hollywood has so many awards, like Oscars, the Globes, SAG, Critics Choice, People's Choice Awards, MTV Awards. Quite agreeing with you, man, however, if you are a follower of these Hollywood awards, you will realise that each of them tries to stay unique in their identity instead of giving out the same Best Actor, Best Film Award. So if Oscars sticks to the tried and tested categories, then MTV will have awards for the Best Kiss or Best Action scene. The Globes go for genre wise awards, while Critics Choice consider only the performance oriented stuff. Here, in Bollywood only the names of the award shows are different, the categories are all the same. And that's make things really boring and monotonous.
On a separate note, IIFA organisers, please change your name ASAP (International Indian Film Academy). Just because you conduct it outside India doesn't make you international, nor Bollywood constitutes the only Indian films made in India for you to call yourselves Indian Film Academy!
The Strange Categories
Okay..this may be an extension of the previous point. Pray, why do every award show has a Popular Choice award and a Critics Choice award? Are you trying to say that people don't have the wits to vote for the best film, that you have to keep a separate section for the critically acclaimed? Screen Awards this year, went an extra mile, when they had three types of awards for the main categories. While Irrfan Khan got the Critics Choice award for the Best Actor for Talvar, Shah Rukh Khan got the popular Choice award for Dilwale (and we are not sure what happened to Salman Khan!) and Ranveer Singh for the Best Actor for Bajirao Mastani.
So if critics chose Irrfan Khan, public chose SRK, then who chose Ranveer Singh? If it was the jury, then who are the critics who gave Irrfan the award? So confusing, man!
It's easy to see that categories are just been made up to please the A-listers who have graced the show. So if Salman Khan is coming to your show, better give him an award, lest he gets displeased. Like how IIFA (Once again, bros!) awarded Deepika Woman of the Year award (Duh!), last year!
Bring in quality
I am glad that Ranveer Singh won the Best Actor award in many of the shows. He deserved the adulations, for his stellar performance and commitment to do the role in Bajirao Mastani. But it would have been better if he had some nice competition in the category, especially when his co-nominees are SRK for Dilwale (his most ordinary performance) and Salman Khan (his best performance, of course, but not the best of the year!). Irrfan Khan was not even nominated for the Best Actor category in Filmfare (because, you know, he got the Critics thing), while Akshay Kumar's brilliant performance in Baby was totally ignored. And who even nominated Sonam Kapoor for Dolly ki Doli (one of the worst films of the year, also produced by one of the Khans' kin!)? Anil Kapoor, brilliant though he was in Dil Dhadakne Do, was nowhere near in league to Nawazuddin Siddiqui's sublime performance in Badlapur, yet he got the Best Supporting Actor. The biggest joke was Sooraj Pancholi getting the Best Debutant award over Vicky Kaushal in Masaan, just because the former flaunted his 6-packs!
Guys, if you are aiming for Oscars, do remember one thing - They won't even nominate Vin Diesel in the Best Actor category just because Furious 7 was the fourth highest grosser of the year! And neither will Transformers make it to the Best Films list, just because it has been the biggest grosser in every year the films have been released!
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