Pathetic decisions by Indian Cinema

One fine early morning,as i sat down to read the daily news i was puzzled to read that Saif Ali Khan has a become a recipient of National Award for the Best Actor for the movie Hum Tum.It was a surprise to many as to what made the jury select him for this prestigious award and the chairman of jury, Sudhish Mishra ,had the answer: “We felt that all the time actors are honoured only for heavy-duty performances.Shahrukh in Swades was not a bad performance. There were other performances which were also good. But here is an actor (Saif in Hum Tum) who is approaching a role in a different way.” Preeti Sagar said Saif had done a wonderful job in the film and it was not necessary to give an award to a 'heavy' performance all the time. "We tried to be different this time," she said. Can someone please tell me what a jury member means when she calls a performance 'heavy' ? or is it some kind of show like "Dandia Dhoom " or "Dare to Bare " organized by Ekta Kapoor to be a little different.When someone is on a jury judging something, he/she is expected to be consistent with expected standards of evaluation.........not be merely "different" for the sake of being so.To add to it The 17-member jury – consisting of known names like Nagesh Kukunoor, Sandeep Sawant and Vinod Ganatra, besides Mishra himself –commended Saif for his “sheer ease, subtlety and spontaneity in portraying a complex and demanding role.” According to me it was a sheer case of overcompensation for the movie Hum Tum. Now we all know how tremendously Saif has improved an actor. He is way over his 'I can't speak Hindi, my looks are too 'sissy' syndrome. With Dil Chahta Hai, he told the world he could look good and act. With Ek Hasina Thi, he declared he could look hot, act well. However, his image is and will remain for a long time, that of a metro sexual ,very stylish person and off late hez been giving a race to the other three king khan's of bollywood ..but the point is should a prestigious award like this be given to a or a 'light', very Hollywood inspired (read rip off) romantic movie Hum Tum.Weren't National Awards all about a 'cause', a 'message', a cinema of a 'serious and credible' nature? Couldnt best actor nominee's from regional states match Saif's performance in Hum Tum . The basic role of any award is to recognise excellence. That is a debatable issue given that there is one new award function every month and every other day we find a new category. That is all fine as far as popular awards go on , but National awards are different sect - they are considered to be the highest yardsticks of cinematic excellence. Its not that popular actors are not supposed to recieve this award but I cannot see why his performance in "Hum Tum " is so unique as to recieve an award . Might be the the committee members were very eager to get on Sharmila Tagore's good books as she is the chairperson of the Censor Board of India.And still more shocking news was the next consideration (for the best actor category) was Shah Rukh Khan. I admire Sharukh for his on-screen presence and energy, he is a great “entertainer”. But he has not proven his talents as a good actor yet. As his darling friend Karan Johar keeps saying “when you need an item boy, who is better than Shahrukh?” True to words ,he is good for that,but we cannot forget the young hunks like Johan Abraham and Arjun Rampal. And what is his next film is based upon? A rich Indian being sent to London and falling in love with an American and getting married in Indian style and saying “I love my India” and “This is our culture”? How patriotic one is!!! I am not saying that the National Awards was perfect or very consistent in all its choices. Yes! many of their past decisions have been motivated by politics/regionalism-------but then again nothing is perfect.And judging art is eternally open to criticism. However the National Awards committee has more often than not got things right. If i am not wrong Amitabh Bachhan got his National Award for Agneepath. Please!!! even though i come under category of ardent fans of Amitabh Bachhan - i would say it was a sterotyped act in the masaledar formula movies and he has done much better in other roles.Indian movies are not all Bollywood and that the most successful movie of the year is not necessarily the best (usually almost never the best). That it was jury-based also made it more creditable than any of the other "popular award" and its gimmicks where votes could be bought by buying enough magazines or voting through sms. One more thing which intrested me was Veer Zara bagging so many awards.I really dont feel the movie deserved it. Wonder when we are all going to look something beyond Yash Chopra's movies for wholesome entertainment.

Anywayz I have a request to the jury. Next time, kindly make it a big event like Film Fare awards and let all those bollywood and page3 celebrites come into the stage and say “Oh my god! I never expected to receive this award. I’m soo happy now. I want to thank… blah… blah… blah…”

Yeah! In a way happy to note that kannada actress and producer Thara whoom most of us have not heard was awarded for her contribution to Indian cinema.Another debatable issue is Paheli being chosen as the entry for Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. With Black being one of the main contenders