Film Unfair Awards
The nominations for the filmfare awards have come out recently. There have been aberrations in the past where the Madan Mohans of the world have won nothing, Mughal-E-Azam lost to Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi, Amitabh didn't win any awards in a year where Deewar and Sholay released simultaneously, not to mention that the only award that Sholay won was for Best Editing. But by and large the awards have been fair until the last few years. This year's nominations leave me saddened. Sample this:
1. Omkara finds no place in the Best Movie department
2. Kareena is nominated for Best Heroine for Omkara though her role was miniscule
3. John Abraham gets nominated for Babul, but not Shreyas Talpade for Dor
4. Omkara finds no nomimation for best music
5. Sunidhi Chauhan gets nominated for Aa Aa Aashiqui Mein from 36 China Town
6. Rekha gets nominated for Krrishh
7. Dhoom 2 is nominated for best music, but Umrao Jaan is not (the latter definitely had better music than the former)
8. Aishwarya gets nominated for Dhoom 2
And the controversial ...
9. Aamir Khan gets nominated for Best Actor for RDB. Shouldn't that be for a supporting role?
I think with the Hindi film industry breaking away from the stereotypes in many ways, there is a distinct need for Filmfare to honour that rather than being populist. What has frustrated me in the past is the inherent acknowledgement of the populism by giving critics awards to those who can't win the popular awards. Other than Filmfare, there are at least 5-6 other major awards that are completely meaningless since the same people end up winning there too anyway, so Filmfare still remains the one I will memorize for trivia purposes :-) I just hope that among the nominations, at least the more deserving win.
Blogger Hacks
Does anyone who uses blogger know of a hack to find out how to get all the queries leading to that blog? I am looking for something similar to this. I have looked around without much luck. I wouldn't be surprised if that is something blogger can't do, but if anyone does know a way, I'd be happy to hear
Amnesia
In the movie Salaam-E-Ishq which I recently saw, one of the stories revolved around Vidya Balan losing her memory in an accident. She stumbles and fumbles through the other three hours trying to remember a single thing, but can't succeed. Akshaye Khanna comes to her rescue by ramming a car straight into her, thus causing her to suffer another accident. At this point, my hopes went up. I was sure she'd get her memory back. But she doesn't :-( It is critical to understand that this is a significant contribution to medical science from Bollywood. Hit me once, I lose my memory. Hit me the same way again, it will come back. The new breed of directors seem to be taking away hope from the hapless millions who can't remember what movie they went in for three hours into it. On a similar note, here's another brilliant life-saving tactic. Tumors in the brain can be cured if a bullet passes through it. Of course, don't you expect that it will take the tumor out with it?
Currently ...
Reading
My name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. Brilliant narrative.
Listening to
Rozana sung by Amitabh in the movie Nishabd. I have never heard the man sounding better. Listen to the song, you'll get hooked to it. While at it, the songs of Just Married are also good, especially the lyrics by Gulzar.
Happy
At the return back to form of God. I mean Sachin Tendulkar.
Wondering
What's going on in the ghazal world? Any new albums anyone wants to point me to?
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25 comments:
Dhoom 2 for best music? Ugh!
I could not get beyond John Abraham nominated for best actor for his role in Babul! What??? Have they lost their minds? Sad about Omkara,too. It's funny how well the movie is doing outside of India and yet the industry doesn't seem to want to give it the credit it deserves.
Glad you're enjoying "Red", I read it a long time ago and felt like I learned so much.
Thanks for pointing me to "Rozana" and "Just Married" - am going to rush over to Raaga now!
dear one, I came over to pay long overdue homage to my pals at Microsoft and found your most entertaining post in the bargain.
Yes, yes, alas, I held out for the longest time, being distrustful of these newfangled technologies, beta versions and upgrades that aren't compatible with one's perfectly workable templates and so on. But I finally switched to IE7. It's like waking up one fine morning to discover that your fat, bald and saggy old wife of 16 years has just been transfigured into a sleek, streamlined, 16 year old with bigger boobs, and able to do more things than ever before. My blog [and sundry other favorite blogs] look like they've undergone lipo, chin tucks and botox treatments all in one. Smooth and creamy fonts instead of the cellulite-dimpled screens of yore! Well done, my man!
What a disappointment about the Filmfare. Do you mean to say that Saif didn't even get a mention for Omkara??! We ought to start an online Blogger Awards for the cinema we like!
Shouldn't you be looking at one of the sitemeters, like active meter or Statcounter?? Not sure, but I think they may have a something that would show up query terms, if you add it to the blog, na?
Oh wow, you're reading Red! what page are you on?? if you're in in too deep already, maybe i could catch up with you, and we can compare notes as we go along! am reading The Day Watch, sequel to the Night Watch now, and Mort by Terry Prattchet on the side.
@Vi: Looks like the songs have had the desired impact on Filmfare: 'Crazy Kiya Re'
@Lotus Reads: Yup, they very much seem to have lost their minds. I can't believe the treatment meted out to Omkara.
@Nocturne: Thank you very much for trying IE7. I am glad you liked it, as much as I liked your analogy between browser version and spouses :-) Saif did get nominated for best villain. I don't see how he can not possibly win there. I also liked your suggestion for having a bloggerFare awards. I am almost halfway into Red. The motivating factor is that I could not get it renewed from libary and that leaves me with 5 days to finish the other two hundred pages. Am enjoying it so far and hope to make that cut too. I actually have that statcounter, which tells me what the entry/exit pages etc. are. This thing is no biggie, but the techie in me either needs a solution or needs to be told that none is possible :-)
I am in a dilemma. God played very well in the game I did not watch - being very superstitious - I will hold myself responsible if he does not do well in any match I watch .....
I use sitemeter. It lists page access in a mumber of ways, ie location, referrals, time/ duration of access etc.
@SD: That's a fine dilemma. However, I find that there's nothing unmatched about the excitement and nervousness when God comes out to bat, at least for the first few deliveries, since I am desperately hoping for him to click. I think he is back in a smooth groove now and in time for the World Cup.
@Shreemoyee: I use sitemeter too, and I think I'll have to content myself with the stats that it provides, not the stats I want. Additionally, maybe its a good thing that the details are hidden. I don't exactly have a big readership :-)
I think Film Unfair Awards is a witty title...so what if the sub-posts don't mesh :)
I finally, after a year and a half, discovered Powells Bookstore in Portland. Saw the book you're reading there, as well as a reason for me to stay in Portland a loooong time.
I'm reading The Golden Gate and falling in love with Vikram Seth again.
As for the blogger awards, can I be on the judges panel too? I promise to be partial to Anu Malik and all girls from my school and college (i.e. all girls minus Aishwarya-Detestable-Rai) who make it to Bollywood.
@RTD2: Are you saying you'd rather be in Portland for a long time? :-) I am thoroughly enjoying the book, have run through 130 pages already since morning.
psst... my library overdue ran into twenty bucks on this one, so i reported it as lost and shelled out another twenty. i actually got to the part about when wossname - yeah, Black, is going around to them remaining artists' tents and everyone starts telling him these long stories... having to gather clues from those parables is what put me to sleep.
@Noctunrne: Good things come to those who are patient :-) I do agree that the author gets wrapped up in the era, like a lot of his characters. The interesting parts are in the latter half though, the manner in which the murder mystery is solved (I haven't seen the solution yet). I am 70 pages away from the end.
lol about the amnesia post. I've heard the movie is yawn-worthy. Abt blog stats, you might want to try Google Analytics if you haven't already done so. (http://www.google.com/analytics/).
You also seem to think that cricket is the greatest game ever. Wonder if you have read this:
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20030204&fname=Sandipan+Deb&sid=1
might need a login. if you don't want to create it, you can read it here:
http://ankit.iitg.googlepages.com/getafixonthegreatestgameintheworld
Hmm..
IMHO,the screen awards earlier this year were marginally better.Check them out.
On the Ghazal front have been mostly listening to oldies that Universal has re-released
Suna hai maine yeh jabse ke,
Taj Mahal mein aa jana &
Hamara dil savere ka
-Nina and Rajendra Mehta
Faasile aise badhenge-Savita Sathi
Yun unki buzm mein khamoshiyon ne-Penaaz Masani
Makes a nice change from the usual Jagjit Singh and Gulam Ali stuff.However strongly wish that there was more talent that made its way onto record labels.
Still haven't been able to trace "Kiya hai deedar us sanam ko hazaar toofan utha uthakar".No trace on Google :(
Can't get that track out of my head
Had ditched 'My name is Red' in favour of the Undercover Economist-think I'll read it next after hearing the commendations-Had it gifted to me on my last birthday by a friend :)
@Ankit: What made you draw the inference that I think that cricket is the greatest game? It just is a great game and definitely my favorite.
@Mohit: Haven't heard Penaz sing in a long long time. I shall check those suggestions out. I have completed the novel last night and while I liked it, I wasn't completely impressed like I was with the book I just read prior to that, 'A suitable boy'
@Parth-You finished reading 'A suitable boy'?!? That thing is huge!
It's been on ice ever since I bought it at a Strand sale.Have yet to muster the courage to try and open it.
BTW,how's it?Generally like Vikram Seth's work but this one's pretty intimidating.
@Mohit: Its a tome, but its excellently written. The fact that it was set in India helped. I liked the way all the stories went off in parallel. There was a rhythm to the depth in each one, and the shifting of plots. What's interesting is to go back and figure out where he gets these references from. Many of the characters are inspired from real life (courtesy some Wikipedia article on Seth). I am starting off with 'An Equal Music' now.
@Parth: Did read 'An Equal Music' quite some time ago.Remember loving it.Try and get your hands on his collected poems.
Good stuff
Am about to begin Red next week. I bought all his books this time in India although I have not yet got round to any of them. The pile of things to read beside my bed is an ever growing tower.
As for back to form, any opinions on Sourav?
@30in2005: I can imagine how it feels to have a long list of things to read and not catching up. Dada has come back rejuvenated. The break seems to have done him wonders. Looks like Team India needs to rely upon the old guard to get us through. The young brigade will have to wait for another edition to get their chance.
BTW, it still irks me that 'Beedi' won Gulzaar the best lyricist awards this year.
My pick would have been 'Naina Thag Lenge' from the same movie.Not that popular but phenomenal lyrics.
'Jagte jaado phookenge re Neendeein banjar kar denge
Naina thag lenge..'
@Mohit: I thought Prasoon Joshi won it for Chaand Sifarish. At least that's what indiafm said. But I would agree with you. Even Namak was better written than Beedi.
I think you're right.Beedi was nominated for best lyrics at Filmfare but won at the Star Screen awards.Must have had the two mixed up.
Helps if you have a "popelar" song to back up your lyrics.
:)
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