The 65th Filmfare Awards were presented on 15th February 2020 at Guwahati (the first time in six decades that the event was not held in Mumbai). This year Gully Boy swept most of the top honours with Uri, Article 15 and War picking up three each. It doesn’t take much to piss people off, as we saw on Twitter; with hashtags such as #BoycottFilmfare trending.
The film picked up an astonishing 13 awards including film of the year, best actor, best actress, best director etc.
But not that good, I would have thought. Most agreed.
In particular people thought that it did not deserve all the awards that it received because it was derivative and unoriginal.
The fact that Kabir Singh won no major award in spite of receiving nine nominations seemed to annoy a lot of people.
Many felt that he was more deserving of the award.
A lot of movie buffs were annoyed that these films were ignored.
People feel that films like Special 30, Kesari, Mission Mangal and others did not receive the recognition they deserved.
Many weren't amused by the entertainment on offer however.
There has been the long-held perception that the Filmfare Awards favour the few who are part of the inner circle of the industry. The industry is hostile to and unappreciative of outsiders/newcomers and the system is skewed in favour of the few.
So many people disagreed with the awards that this hashtag was trending.
There were others who deserved it more, thought the tweeple.
Many of the tweeple felt that Bhatt’s role in Gully Boy was like a cameo and underserving of the best actor award.
While Kesari’s Teri Mitti is a beautifully sung, poignant ballad, Gully Boy’s Apna Time Aayega is an earthy, shocking rap that became something of an anthem. Comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges; people, however, had clear preferences.
The Filmfare awards are known to favour a few, and are more about TV entertainment than about recognising and rewarding true talent and originality. We are also reliably told that awards are likely to go to those willing to attend and perform for the awards. Many were like this about the Filmfare Awards 2020: watch for amusement, then turn over and fall asleep.
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