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When Shah Rukh Khan won his first-ever Best Actor Award from Filmfare, he said he had brought Rs 5,000 because he felt that the award could be ‘bought’. There were fewer awards then, and winning a Filmfare award was a matter of prestige. It was one of the first and most coveted of the awards bestowed for outstanding contribution to cinema. Today, the scenario is different. Switch on your remote on a Sunday evening and if you surf entertainment channels, you will find some awards function in full sway. Dr N. Bhaskara Rao, Founder Chairman of the Centre for Media Studies, says, "The way television awards are given is as if they made a difference and that contribution was being acknowledged. A critical analysis will bring out that the awards have become outlets of self-aggrandisement. Awards are expected to help differentiate "good" from "bad" content or not so good ones and promote certain standards or values or priorities as desirable. More recently, most channels — both news and others — have been showcasing such awards annually." These grand award
functions sponsored by corporate giants generate both employment and
revenue. But over a period of time, these entertainment shows have
become more important than the awards themselves. The huge constructed
stage with glitzy props, cranes and chains from which performing
actors can showcase their acrobatic skills, the anchors in their
shimmering costumes, high make-up and exaggerated ad-libbing creates a
lot of business for many people. But it takes away the dignity the
awards are expected to have.
The categorisation of awards has multiplied. There is place for everyone for one or the other award. If you cannot bag the Best Actor Award because your contender has greater influence or muscle power or both, you might get the Best Supporting Actor Award or the Best Comedian Award or the Award for the Best Performance in a Negative role. So, where does merit go? With too many awards flying left, right and centre, excellence quietly goes away through the back door, never to return. One entertainment channel on national television gives away its annual awards only to artists who feature in serials and soaps the channel produces. It is not given across the board. It is an exercise in extreme self-indulgence. The other channels follow suit. In effect, everyone goes home with a glittering trophy tucked under his/her arm. The IFFA Awards said to belong to the AB camp keeps SRK away as he is not in that camp. The venue shifts from one South Asian capital to another glittering one and television cameras close in on the powers-that-be. The ‘appointment’ of the jury board is determined by who a prospective jury member is close to within the organising committee, or, who can bring in a big sponsor for the D-Day event, or, who can sponsor the event himself/herself, or, who can give mileage in terms of publicity and media hype. These are big names, true. But do they qualify? We now have a host of awards such as the Screen Awards, the Stardust Awards, the National Awards, Zee Television Network Awards, StarPlus Awards and so on. Each one claims its uniqueness in being the most prominent award or the people’s choice award that in fact, is underwritten by some cell phone service or another. Filmfare has towed the line of other award functions by glamourising its event and diluting its value in terms of prestige and honour. Fortunately for everyone, the National Awards retains its honour till today. Aamir Khan feels "Indian film awards lack credibility." After filmmaker Sanjay Gupta claimed that Zoya Akhtar’s big hit Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was a rip-off of Fandango, the entire team, except Katrina Kaif who had already signed the contract to perform, boycotted the Colors Screen Awards function in Mumbai. Says Emraan Hashmi, "I disagree with the nomination process and I feel some nominations are highly undeserving." Ajay Devgn, who won the National Award twice and attended only one of the functions, says, "I do not attend award functions. The organiser calls you informing you that they will give you an award if you attend the function. If you do not accept the invitation, they will give it to someone else because the function is a marketing and PR exercise. The crowds are pulled by star names so they give away awards to stars that agree to attend. As for the National Awards, they too have been tarnished once or twice. But you receive it from the President of India, the country’s highest civilian and that is an award unto itself."
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