The Dark Knaik’s 9th FilmFair Awards 2022

INTRODUCTION

I welcome all of you to my 9^th edition of Bollywood’s Best for a calendar year. An effort I have been making for my own version of Filmfare since 2014.

The reason for blogging this particular material for the past eight years is because I and surely most of you have understood for a long time that the most prestigious award which is Filmfare has lost its credibility for some decades. The deserving people most of the time do not even get nominated or if they do, they do not win. Many potential films are least considered or perhaps not at all for Filmfare. Why? A few bullet reasons can be a failure at the box office, or a not-so-well-known cast leading to a lack of interest despite having a potential story.

So, with such yearly disappointments, I got annoyed and felt I had had enough of this nonsense. And someone has to take the initiative. I do not claim that I am the first to start my own Filmfare but it has now become a part of my nature to honor and recognize with the highest possible accuracy in my decisions every year.

I promise and guarantee that my picks will not sound reward but an award. My decisions will not be biased but simply on my judgment scale. Many of my finalized nominations and winners are about to surprise you like every year.

From 2014 until 2021, click any report below you would like to visit.

2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019 2020 2021 

And since I have become a vlogger, a content creator, and a YouTuber, I am happy to inform all my readers that for the first time in 9 years, my annual report is transformed into a vlog. If you want to watch instead of reading, click below.

 

And I will no longer call my annual reports “My Bollywood’s Best of” whatever year. From this 9^th edition, I am renaming it “The Dark Knaik’s FilmFair Awards”.

Note: “The Dark Knaik” is my avatar and the name of my YouTube channel. Subscribe to my channel here: https://youtube.com/@thedarkknaik

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HOW FILMFAIR AWARDS ARE SHAPED?

Like every year, I present my nominations and winners for each category by dividing all the categories into three major sections.

The first is the ‘Musical Section’ that will have 6 categories.

Then the next is the ‘Technical Section’ that will consist of 12 categories.

And the last one is the ‘Major Section’ which will have 6 categories.

So, there will be 24 winners from 24 categories. And each category will have a maximum of 5 nominations.

Also, I will rank all the nominations of all the categories.

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HOW WAS MY EXPERIENCE FOR 2022’S BOLLYWOOD?

I was generally disappointed after watching around 45 films from 2022. Bollywood had not much to offer, to be honest. There were several good stories but most of those failed due to bad execution. And then Bollywood’s mainstream aesthetics do not change. Unstoppable uninspiring musical scores, mentioning Salman Khan, needless songs, forced humor, unknown extras or unrelated characters knowing the dance steps in all the songs, stereotypical portrayals of hazuris and janabis, concluding the film on a terrible note, and many more.

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THE DARK KNAIK’S 9TH FILMFAIR AWARDS

Readers!

The wait is over…

Allow me to honor Bollywood’s artistic and technical excellence in 2022.

MUSICAL SECTION

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE

CLINTON CEREJO (COBALT BLUE)

2nd. Kabeer Kathpalia (Gehraiyaan)

3rd. Tanuj Tiku (Laal Singh Chaddha)

 

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

GANESH ACHARYA – DANCE KA BHOOT (BRAHMĀSTRA)

2nd. Bosco–Caesar – Rangi Saari (JugJugg Jeeyo)

3rd. Kruti Mahesh – Dholida (Gangubai Kathiawadi)

 

BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

SHAHID MALLIYA – NIRBHAU NIRVAIR (QALA)

2nd. Arijit Singh – Deva Deva (Brahmāstra)

3rd. Arijit Singh – Kesariya (Brahmāstra)

4th. Shadaab Faridi – Tur Kalleyan (Laal Singh Chaddha)

5th. Kanishk Seth – Rangi Saari (JugJugg Jeeyo)

 

BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

KAVITA SETH – RANGI SAARI (JUGJUGG JEEYO)

2nd. Sireesha Bhagavatula – Phero Na Najariya (Qala)

3rd. Lothika Jha – Doobey (Gehraiyaan)

 

BEST SONG & LYRICS

KESARIYA – PRITAM, AMITABH BHATTACHARYA, ARIJIT SINGH (BRAHMĀSTRA)

2nd. Ghodey Pe Sawaar – Amit Trivedi, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Sireesha Bhagavatula (Qala)

3rd. Rangi Saari – Kanishk Seth, Kavita Seth (JugJugg Jeeyo)

4th. Aadhi Kahani – Vishal Mishra, Raj Shekhar, Jubin Nautiyal (Nazar Andaaz)

5th. Aadmi Bhutiya Hai – Shantanu Moitra, Rahgir (Sherdil)

 

BEST MUSIC

AMIT TRIVEDI (QALA)

2nd. Pritam (Laal Singh Chaddha)

3rd. Kabeer Kathpalia, Savera Mehta (Gehraiyaan)

4th. Pritam (Brahmāstra)

5th. Achint Thakkar (Monica, O My Darling)

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TECHNICAL SECTION

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

SHEETAL IQBAL SHARMA (GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI)

 

2nd. Veera Kapur EE (Qala)

3rd. Priyanka Agarwal (Thar)

4th. Darshan Jalan & Neelanchal Ghosh (RK/RKay)

 

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

DNEG & REDEFINE (BRAHMĀSTRA)

 

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

PREETISHEEL SINGH D’SOUZA (GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI)

2nd. Seema Mane, Rihead Ronni Jr. (Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2)

3rd. Serina Tixiera (Thar)

4th. Nusrat Abbas Rizvi, Kajol Kanther (Cobalt Blue)

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

MEENAL AGARWAL (QALA)

2nd. Subrata Chakraborty, Amit Ray (Gangubai Kathiawadi)

3rd. Amrita Mahal Kahai (Brahmāstra)

4th. Wasiq Khan (Thar)

5th. Sanjeev Khandekar, Vaishali Narkar (Cobalt Blue)

 

BEST SOUND DESIGN

KAAMOD L KHARDE (ANEK)

2nd. Bishwadeep Dipak Chatterjee (Brahmāstra)

3rd. Baylon Fonseca (Drishyam 2)

4th. Bishwadeep Dipak Chatterjee (Runway 34)

5th. Anthony B Jayaruban (Jalsa)

 

BEST EDITING

NITESH BHATIA (GEHRAIYAAN)

2nd. Sumeet Kotian (A Thursday)

3rd. Sandeep Francis (Drishyam 2)

4th. Aarti Bajaj (Thar)

5th. Dharmendra Sharma (Runway 34)

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

TIYASH SEN (SHERDIL)

2nd. Kaushal Shah (Gehraiyaan)

3rd. Sudeep Chatterjee (Gangubai Kathiawadi)

4th. Vincenzo Condorelli (Cobalt Blue)

5th. Ravi Varman (Salaam Venky)

 

BEST ACTION

SALAAM ANSARI (THAR)

2nd. Stefan Ritcher, Riyaz & Habib (Anek)

3rd. Vikram Dahiya (A Thursday)

4th. Dan Bradley, Diyan Hristov, Parvez Shaikh (Brahmāstra)

 

BEST STORY

R. BALKI (CHUP: REVENGE OF THE ARTIST)

2nd. Rajat Kapoor (RK/RKay)

3rd. Anirudh Iyer (An Action Hero)

4th. Prajwal Chandrashekhar, Suresh Triveni (Jalsa)

5th. Sunil Gandhi (Uunchai)

 

BEST SCREENPLAY

RAJ SINGH CHAUDHARY (THAR)

 

2nd. Ayesha DeVitre, Sumit Roy, Yash Sahai (Gehraiyaan)

3rd. Aamil Keeyan Khan, Abhishek Pathak (Drishyam 2)

 

BEST DIALOGUES

RAJAT KAPOOR (RK/RKAY)

2nd. Kanika Dhillon, Himanshu Sharma (Raksha Bandhan)

3rd. Srijit Mukherji, Sudeep Nigam, Atul Kumar Rai (Sherdil)

4th. Yash Sahai, Wajid Shaikh (Gehraiyaan)

5th. Vijay Maurya (A Thursday)

 

BEST SCENE

NIKO WITNESSING ARRESTS AND FIRE IN VILLAGE IN ONE-SHOT SCENE (ANEK)

 

2nd. Pushkar trying to eat a biscuit during a lamenting poetry from a distance (The Kashmir Files)

3rd. Alisha speaking about life and relations with her father (Gehraiyaan)

4th. Rookie Gangu’s first day at work on the door (Gangubai Kathiawadi)

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MAJOR SECTION

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

ANUPAM KHER (THE KASHMIR FILES)

2nd. Shrikant Yadav (Jalsa)

3rd. Sanjay Dutt (Toolsidas Junior)

4th. Atul Kulkarni (A Thursday)

5th. Vijay Varma (Darlings)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

SHEFALI SHAH (JALSA)

2nd. Mona Singh (Laal Singh Chaddha)

3rd. Sheeba Chaddha (Doctor G)

4th. Sayani Gupta (Sherdil)

5th. Simone Singh (Maja Ma)

 

BEST ACTOR

KUMUD MISHRA (NAZAR ANDAAZ)

2nd. Siddhant Chaturvedi (Gehraiyaan)

3rd. Akshay Kumar (Raksha Bandhan)

4th. Kartik Aaryan (Freddy)

5th. Pankaj Tripathi (Sherdil)

 

BEST ACTRESS

DEEPIKA PADUKONE (GEHRAIYAAN)

2nd. Alia Bhatt (Gangubai Kathiawadi)

3rd. Vidya Balan (Jalsa)

4th. Tabu (Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2)

5th. Madhuri Dixit (Maja Ma)

 

BEST DIRECTOR

RAJ SINGH CHAUDHARY (THAR)

2nd. Sachin Kundalkar (Cobalt Blue)

3rd. Shakun Batra (Gehraiyaan)

4th. Suresh Triveni (Jalsa)

5th. Abhishek Pathak (Drishyam 2)

 

BEST FILM

DRISHYAM 2

2nd. Thar

3rd. Gehraiyaan

4th. Jalsa

5th. Cobalt Blue

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TABLE OF MULTIPLE WINS & NOMINATIONS

MULTIPLE WINS & NOMINATIONS
WINS	NOMS	FILMS
3	9	Brahmāstra
3	8	Thar
3	6	Qala
2	12	Gehraiyaan
2	7	Gangubai Kathiawadi
2	3	Anek
1	7	Jalsa
1	6	Cobalt Blue
1	5	Sherdil
1	5	Drishyam 2
1	4	JugJugg Jeeyo
1	3	RK/Rkay
1	2	Nazar Andaaz
1	2	The Kashmir Files
1	1	Chup
	4	Laal Singh Chaddha
	4	A Thursday
	2	Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2
	2	Runway 34
	2	Raksha Bandhan
	2	Maja Ma
	1	Monica, O My Darling
	1	Salaam Venky
	1	An Action Hero
	1	Uunchai
	1	Doctor G
	1	Toolsidas Junior
	1	Darlings
	1	Freddy

Thank you for reading my annual Bollywood honors report. I will return with a new report next year. Share your opinion below.

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My Bollywood’s Best of 2021

INTRODUCTION

I have done blogging my own version of Filmfare for seven straight years. Since the late 1990s, I have observed and got annoyed on many occasions when I witnessed the prestigious awards show of Filmfare losing its credibility. Therefore, I have been managing to scrutinize and make my own list of honors who, I believe, deserved the most and need to be recognized.

Since 2014, I have been passing my annual report of Bollywood’s best every year. My Bollywood’s best had 21 categories that are segregated into three different sections which are musical (5), technical (10), and major (6) sections. This time, I have added one more category in technical that is ‘Best Makeup & Hairstyling’. I felt that is the need of the hour as things have changed and improved in the Hindi-film industry.

And yes, the industry is changing, in a sense that the new generation of writers and directors, a collective group of veteran actors and new artists, are trying to do new and attract the audience in the industry. Just, for example, Kajol picked a pretty different film last year, Tribhanga. Akshay Kumar, out of the equation, played a supporting role in Atrangi Re which is quite not his thing. Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi, with all the highly talented ensemble cast, got the critical acclaim it deserved. A few years ago, this wasn’t possible due to a large inclination towards mainstream cinema. But now we observe flexibility and the audience is willing to try innovative.

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MY BOLLYWOOD’S BEST OF THE PAST YEARS

Those who want to read my previous annual reports of Bollywood’s best, click on any of the following links:

2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019 2020

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SELECTED HINDI FILMS FOR THE 2021 ANNUAL REPORT

For music, I keep my options open and there is no limit to the number of films because quality work in music can happen in any film. But besides music, I chose the following Hindi films released last year under my scrutiny to judge for all the categories:

Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi, Pagglait, Tribhanga, Nail Polish, Kaagaz, 12’o’Clock, Jamun, The Girl on the Train, Bombay Rose, Ahaan, Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar, Silence… Can You Hear It?, Milestone, Sardar Ka Grandson, Skater Girl, Sherni, Haseen Dilruba, Toofan, Mimi, Dial 100, Shershaah, 200 Halla Ho, Chehre, Thalaivii, Ankahi Kahaniya, Rashmi Rocket, Sardar Udham, Hum Do Hamaare Do, 83, Dhamaka, Atrangi Re, and Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui.

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HOW MY ANNUAL REPORT IS PREPARED?

So how do I work myself as a film critic honoring in the blogs every year?

1. I judge and pass my reviews of the selected films.
2. After watching each and every selected film, I make notes about the plusses and minuses, and further note down in what categories these films qualify.
3. From this year, each of the 22 categories will have a maximum of 5 nominations and for the first time in eight years, I will now rank my nominations. No more ‘Other Notable Works’ or ‘Special Mention’. If I feel I need to write a few lines in any category, I will.
4. After I am done with honors, I will write down the total number of nominations and wins submitted in my report as stat fun.

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MY BOLLYWOOD’S BEST OF 2021

The wait is over…

Allow me to honor Bollywood’s artistic and technical excellence in 2021 according to Sami Naik.

MUSICAL SECTION

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE

A.R.RAHMAN (ATRANGI RE)

2nd. Shantanu Moitra (Sardar Udham)

3rd. Benedict Taylor & Naren Chandavarkar (Sherni)

4th. Sanjay Wandrekar (Nail Polish)

 

BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

HARICHARAN SESHADRI (TERE RANG – ATRANGI RE)

2nd. Jubin Nautiyal (Hanjugam – Bhuj: The Pride of India)

3rd. B Praak (Raanjha – Shershaah)

 

BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

SAINDHAVI PRAKASH (NAIN BANDHE NAINO SE – THALAIVII)

2nd. Priya Saraiya (Kalle Kalle – Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui)

3rd. Shreya Ghoshal (Chaka Chak – Atrangi Re)

 

BEST SONG & LYRICS

RAANJHA (JASLEEN ROYAL, B PRAAK, ROMY, ANVITA DUTT – SHERSHAAH)

2nd. Tere Rang (Haricharan Seshadri, Shreya Ghoshal, Irshad Kamil, A.R.Rahman – Atrangi Re)

3rd. Ananya (Arijit Singh, Javed Akhtar, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy – Toofan)

4th. Nain Bandhe Naino Se (Saindhavi Prakash, Irshad Kamil, G. V. Prakash Kumar – Thalaivii)

5th. Main Teri Ho Gayi (Millind Gaba, Pallavi Gaba, Happy Raikoti, Tanishk Bagchi – Sardar Ka Grandson)

 

BEST MUSIC

A. R. RAHMAN (ATRANGI RE)

2nd. Tanishk Bagchi, Jasleen Royal, Javed-Mohsin, Vikram Montrose, B Praak (Shershaah)

3rd. Sachin-Jigar & Tanishk Bagchi (Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui)

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TECHNICAL SECTION

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

DEEPALI NOOR & NEETA LULLA (THALAIVII)

Kangana Ranaut, Arvind Swamy in Thalaivi Movie Images HD

2nd. Veera Kapur (Sardar Udham)

3rd. Shivank Kapoor (Chehre)

4th. Rohit Chaturvedi (Pagglait)

5th. Darshan Jalan & Manish Tiwari (Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi)

 

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

PATTANAM RASHEED, RAMESH MOHANTY & SURESH MOHANTY (THALAIVII)

2nd. Vikram Gaekwad & Mariann Coletta (83)

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

PRIYA SUHAS (CHEHRE)

2nd. Parijat Poddar (Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi)

3rd. Priya Ahluwaliya (Skater Girl)

4th. Devika Dave (Sherni)

5th. Mansi Dhruv Mehta & Dmitrii Malich (Sardar Udham)

 

BEST SOUND DESIGN

ANISH JOHN (SHERNI)

2nd. Dipankar Jojo Chaki & Nihar Ranjan Samal (Sardar Udham)

3rd. Manas Choudhary (Dhamaka)

 

BEST EDITING

SANDEEP SETHY (SILENCE… CAN YOU HEAR IT?)

2nd. Sangeeth Varghese (The Girl on the Train)

3rd. Jabeen Merchant (Tribhanga)

4th. Chandrashekhar Prajapati (Sardar Udham)

5th. Deepika Kalra (Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi)

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

ANGELLO FACCINI (MILESTONE)

2nd. Avik Mukhopadhyay (Sardar Udham)

3rd. Tribhuvan Babu Sadineni (The Girl on the Train)

4th. Rakesh Haridas (Sherni)

5th. Rafey Mahmood (Pagglait)

 

BEST ACTION

STEFAN RITCHER & SUNIL RODRIQUES (SHERSHAAH)

 

BEST STORY

MANJARI MAKIJANY & VINATI MAKIJANY (SKATER GIRL)

2nd. Aastha Tiku (Sherni)

3rd. Renuka Shahane (Tribhanga)

4th. Umesh Bist (Pagglait)

5th. Laxman Utekar & Rohan Shankar (Mimi)

 

BEST SCREENPLAY

ABAN BARUCHA DEOHANS (SILENCE… CAN YOU HEAR IT?)

2nd. Ivan Ayr & Neel Manikant (Milestone)

3rd. Manjari Makijany & Vinati Makhijany (Skater Girl)

4th. Seema Pahwa (Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi)

5th. Nadja Damouchel & Gitanjali Rao (Bombay Rose)

 

BEST DIALOGUES

SEEMA PAHWA (RAMPRASAD KI TEHRVI)

2nd. Bugs Bhargava & Sudeep Naik (Nail Polish)

3rd. Yashaswi Mishra & Amit V. Masurkar (Sherni)

4th. Asad Hussain (Bombay Rose)

5th. Ranjit Kapoor & Rumy Jafry (Chehre)

 

BEST SCENE

JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE (SARDAR UDHAM)

There can be no better scene than dramatizing this horrifying part of pre-independence history. This scene was kept on wait after two hours well spent on developing the story and Udham’s character in entirety. The intensity and provocation of that bloodshed were extremely detailed. This scene was deliberately shot violent. The graphic detailing of this three-minute scene full of gunshots and painful cries was more savage than what Lord Attenborough showed in Gandhi. It was a scene that boiled the emotions and broke the hearts. Udham’s commentary about his fury for this incident all this time made his case.

2nd. Sardar Revisiting her Lahore House (Sardar Ka Grandson)

3rd. Sandy Loses Her Child (Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar)

4th. Arjun Thakur Recovering from Vomitting (Dhamaka)

5th. The revelation of Maanvi (Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui)

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MAJOR SECTION

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

PARESH RAWAL (TOOFAN)

2nd. Manoj Pahwa (Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi)

3rd. Arjun Rampal (Nail Polish)

4th. Raghubir Yadav (Pagglait)

5th. Vijay Raaz (Sherni)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

SAKSHI TANWAR (DIAL 100)

2nd. Sheeba Chaddha (Pagglait)

3rd. Amruta Subhash (Dhamaka)

4th. Tanvi Azmi (Tribhanga)

5th. Kirti Kulhari (The Girl on the Train)

 

BEST ACTOR

VICKY KAUSHAL (SARDAR UDHAM)

 

Vicky as Sardar will be remembered as one of the best performances in Hindi cinema for this new decade. You feel pain when his portrayal agonizes. There is much discomfort to watch his rage and hatred for British Imperialism and he has perfected that genuity you want to watch in the films about Indian freedom against the British. His tense courtroom scene of justification and in a lengthy struggle of saving many lives after the massacre are the best examples of Vicky’s notable performance.

2nd. Manav Kaul (Nail Polish)

3rd. Raghubir Yadav (Jamun)

4th. Manoj Bajpayee (Silence… Can You Hear It?)

5th. Pankaj Tripathi (Kaagaz)

 

BEST ACTRESS

PARINEETI CHOPRA (SANDEEP AUR PINKY FARAAR)

Parineeti has to be the most improved actress of the last year who gave not one but two brilliant performances. But this role, she had the grip. When a role for a woman in desperate help or seeking freedom from her misery requires a solid actress to perfect it, talented actresses like Aliya Bhatt, Taapsee, and Bhumi are coming to your mind. So Dibakar chose Parineeti and gave her the platform. You observe her when she loses her child, when she gets scared on a lot of occasions, or when she tries to escape the rape attempt. A marvelous display of mental and emotional acting.

2nd. Sanya Malhotra (Pagglait)

3rd. Shweta Basu Prasad (Jamun)

4th. Parineeti Chopra (The Girl on the Train)

5th. Kangana Ranaut (Thalaivii)

 

BEST DIRECTOR

SHOOJIT SIRCAR (SARDAR UDHAM)

Sardar Udham is one of the best directed Hindi films I have watched in recent years. Shoojit’s presentation makes me wonder if Sardar Udham actually is an Indian film. It is some accomplishment. The courtroom scenes, Sardar speaking about freedom alone in the park, Sardar’s quest for O’ Dwyer, and most significantly, the horrifying Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and its extremely lengthy aftermath are the bullet reasons why I feel that Shoojit has set the standards and raised the bar of directional artistry too high.

2nd. Manjari Makijany (Skater Girl)

3rd. Seema Pahwa (Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi)

4th. Bugs Bhargava (Nail Polish)

5th. Gitanjali Rao (Bombay Rose)

 

BEST FILM

SKATER GIRL

Believe me! Honoring the best film of the year is the most challenging judgment. And being a film critic, it is my responsibility to make a decision that supports the purpose of being the best. Milestone focused on the struggle of a broken man in the wake of tragedy; while Nail Polish highlighted a complicated criminal case. Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi was a family drama but with a real-feel dramatization. Sardar Udham shows the darker side of the freedom fighter. All these films had elements that have been watched before but were extraordinary films.

Skater Girl is a totally different rhythm and beat that sparks attraction to its audience with a fresh direction, and a catchy screenplay. A story about a village girl who finds her heart in skating after two foreigners introduce skateboarding is a genuine love story to filmmaking.

The writers spent one year getting the feel of the village and creating the characters that stamp some quality portrayals. And this is exactly why Skater Girl looks so real and close to life.

2nd. Sardar Udham

3rd. Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi

4th. Nail Polish

5th. Milestone

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TABLE OF MULTIPLE WINS & NOMINATIONS

MULTIPLE WINS & NOMINATIONS
WINS	NOMS	FILMS
3	10	Sardar Udham
3	5	Atrangi Re
3	5	Thalaivii
2	5	Skater Girl
2	4	Shershaah
2	3	Silence… Can You Hear It?
1	8	Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi
1	7	Sherni
1	3	Chehre
1	3	Milestone
1	2	Toofan
1	2	Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar
1	1	Dial 100
	6	Nail Polish
	6	Pagglait
	4	The Girl on the Train
	3	Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui
	3	Dhamaka
	3	Tribhanga
	3	Bombay Rose
	2	Sardar Ka Grandson
	2	Jamun
	1	Bhuj: The Pride of India
	1	83
	1	Mimi
	1	Kaagaz

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Thank you for reading my annual Bollywood honors report. I will return with a new report next year. Share your opinion below. Stay safe.

My Bollywood’s Best of 2020

Welcome to my world where Sami Naik presents you his annual report about the best things that happened in Bollywood that year. It has been declared that the quality of Hindi-language films has declined due to mainstream commercialism and entertainment which is unfortunately true but believing that quality films in India are extremely less in production, I beg to differ. The prime reason is that the sensible audience has to discover such projects and in the times of streaming services, more chances have increased that a lot of writers and directors, who were not getting the platform, will get offers and earn recognitions from the audience when they release their work. Audience or film critic like me make efforts here by blogging and do justice for people who deserve to be recognized for their quality work.

Since 2014, I have been publishing an annual report into my blog about the Hindi-language film industry of India. The purpose of this report/blog is to inform my fellow cinephiles about the better prospects of filmmaking in the film industry and making them aware of the rich quality of films that either caught the viewer’s attraction and received the deserving praise or unluckily went unnoticed and unrecognized. Following are my previous reports about the best of Bollywood:

2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019

My judgments are based on the realistic measures fetched from the films whether those are big or small budgeted, comprised of the ensemble or lesser-known cast. No compromise on quality. Every year, I dig around three dozen potential Hindi films, watch, and judge, pass the reviews and note down the artistic and technical excellence. For 2020, the following 38 films were selected:

Bulbbul, Halahal, Love Aaj Kal, Taish, Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa, Chhapaak, Chintu Ka Birthday, Maska, Choked, Bhonsle, Kadakh, Thappad, AK vs AK, Ram Singh Charlie, What Are The Odds, Panga, Dil Bechara, Sir, Gunjan Saxena, Axone, Yeh Ballet, Pareeksha, Shikara, Kaamyaab, Mee Raqsam, Ludo, Gulabo Sitabo, Chippa, Ghoomketu, Kaali Khuhi, Serious Men, London Confidential, Cargo, Atkan Chatkan, Dolly Kitty Aur Wo Chamakte Sitare, Yaara, Operation Parindey, and Shakuntala Devi.

In addition, I have checked the soundtracks of Ginny Weds Sunny, Baaaghi 3, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, Angrezi Medium, and Malang to observe the music department.

Once I am done with all the selected films, I decide by finalizing the works and pick the winner.

SO HOW THIS ALL WORKS??

1. There are 21 categories that are segregated into three different sections which are musical (5), technical (10), and major (6) sections.
2. Each category has a winner and ‘maximum’ 5 honorable mentions which are unranked and labeled as ‘Other Notable Works’.
3. If I require, I will provide short detail in each category.
4. After finishing with 21 categories, I will write down the total number of nominations and wins submitted in my report as stat fun.

The wait is over…

Allow me to honor Bollywood’s artistic and technical excellence of 2020 according to Sami Naik.

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MUSICAL SECTION

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE

AMIT TRIVEDI (BULBBUL)

Other Notable Works:

Karsh Kale (Choked)

Siddharth Mahadevan, Soumil Shringarpure, Qaran Mehta (Ram Singh Charlie)

Gaurav Godkhindi & Govind Vasantha (Taish)

Cyrille de Haes (Chippa)

A.R.Rahman & Qutub-E-Kripa (Shikara)

 

BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

JUBIN NAUTIYAL (PHIR CHALA – GINNY WEDS SUNNY)

Other Notable Works:

Sachet Tandon (Faaslon Mein – Baaghi 3)

Arijit Singh (Hardum Humdum – Ludo)

Darshan Raval (Mehrama – Love Aaj Kal)

Ayushmann Khurrana (Mere Liye Tum Kafi Ho – Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan)

 

 

BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

RACHITA ARORA (SUNN SUR JO – CHOKED)

Other Notable Works:

Monali Thakur (Muskurah – Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa)

Suchismita Das (Ratiya – Ram Singh Charlie)

Rekha Bhardwaj (Dori Tutt Gaiyaan – Gunjan Saxena)

Jyotica Tangri (Kol Kol – Taish)

 

 

BEST SONG & LYRICS

MEHRAMA (DARSHAN RAVAL/ANTARA MITRA/IRSHAD KAMIL/PRITAM – LOVE AAJ KAL)

Other Notable Works:

Phir Chala (Jubin Nautiyal/Kunaal Vermaa/Payal Dev – Ginny Weds Sunny)

Humraah (Sachet Tandon/Kunaal Vermaa/The Fusion Project – Malang)

Hardum Humdum (Arijit Singh/Sayeed Quadri/Pritam – Ludo)

Kudi Nu Nachne De (Vishal Dadlani/Priya Saraiya/Sachin-Jigar – Angrezi Medium)

 

 

BEST MUSIC

PRITAM (LOVE AAJ KAL)

Other Notable Works:

Raghav Sachar/Prashant Pillai/Govind Vasantha/Enbee/Gaurav Godkhindi (Taish)

Pritam (Ludo)

Mithoon/Ankit Tiwari/Ved Sharma/The Fusion Project/Adnan Dhool/Rabi Ahmed (Malang)

 

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TECHNICAL SECTION

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

VEERA KAPUR EE (BULBBUL)

Other Notable Works:

Sachin Lovalekar (Shikara)

Edward Lalrempuia & Karan Singh Parmar (Axone)

Payal Ashar (Ram Singh Carlie)

Darshan Jalan & Manish Tiwari (Kaamyaab)

Veera Kapur EE (Gulabo Sitabo)

 

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

MEENAL AGARWAL (BULBBUL)

Other Notable Works:

Sonal Sawant (Shikara)

Shamim Khan & Sikandar Ahmed (Bhonsle)

Mandar D. Nagaonkar (Taish)

Meenal Agarwal (Kadakh)

 

 

BEST SOUND DESIGN

SUSHANT H AMIN (TAISH)

Other Notable Works:

Arun Nambiar (Ram Singh Charlie)

Udit Duseja (Yeh Ballet)

Subash Sahoo (Mee Raqsam)

Sukanta Majumdar (Chippa)

Anish John (Bulbbul)

 

 

BEST EDITING

NITESH BHATIA (HALAHAL)

Other Notable Works:

Antara Lahiri (Yeh Ballet)

Priyank Prem Kumar (Taish)

Manas Mittal (Chippa)

Nitin Baid (Chhapaak)

 

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

JIGMET WANGCHUK (BHONSLE)

There is a scene where Bhonsle is done with the meeting. Bhonsle is fixed in a crowd of 70,000 people during a festival of Anant Chaturdashi. That lengthy scene took six retakes to complete the shot. In all this continuity, Bhonsle becomes a deep muted narration of a revolutionary poet.

The most important consideration for a slow cinema is the camera work which makes the viewers observe the detailing of the smaller portions of the screenwriting. And this is where Bhonsle was very impressive. Visual shots fixing you to the neighborhood like dirty old tableware, a mischief of rats, a loaf of bread near to a street dog, etc are the essentials of adaptable graphics that squeezes you to care this kind of visual bravura.

Other Notable Works:

Avik Mukhopadhyay (Gulabo Sitabo)

Johan Heurlin Aidt (What Are The Odds)

Harshvir Oberai (Taish)

Ramanuj Dutta (Chippa)

Siddharth Diwan (Bulbbul)

 

 

BEST ACTION

IAN VAN TEMPERLEY (TAISH)

 

BEST STORY

DEVANSHU SINGH & SATYANSHU SINGH (CHINTU KA BIRTHDAY)

Axone highlighted the social challenges the Northeast Indian migrants were facing in the capital. Mee Raqsam depicted the fondness of a young girl about a classical dance in a conservative Muslim family and the consequences. Kaamyaab voiced their support for the lesser-known side actors and told an influential story about such an actor who wishes to conclude his career on a memorable note. Ram Singh Charlie gave a painful insider into the circus entertainers and their struggle to survive at an old age after the business is put to halt. AK vs AK was an unusual plot about celebrities taking professional and personal revenge.

But my pick is Chintu Ka Birthday which was astonishingly built on innocent hopes between the screaming agonies of political conflicts. A six-year-old boy wants to celebrate his birthday with his Indian family, and friends in war-torn Iraq in the times when the US military has invaded the country. What is more observing about the story is feeling the agony of one of the great political conflicts of this century through the eyes of the kid who is not even a civilian of that country. That said so, the story indirectly takes you to so many millions of stories of Iraqi children into sparing a thought who wished to live free in those times enough to cut a cake on their birthday.

Other Notable Works:

Avinash Sampath (AK vs AK)

Nicholas Kharkongor (Axone)

Nitin Kakkar & Sharib Hashmi (Ram Singh Charlie)

Safdar Mir & Husain Mir (Mee Raqsam)

Hardik Mehta (Kaamyaab)

 

 

BEST SCREENPLAY

RAJAT KAPOOR (KADAKH)

Many of you have noticed about my film reviews that I concentrate and judge more about the film’s screenwriting. Because it is the most essential part along with the editing which keeps the spirit of the film intact and helps in maintaining finesse.

Halahal, Ram Singh Charlie, Thappad, and Bulbbul, all had the best screenwriting to compel the audience and drive into it. But why I feel Kadakh is the best work from all these? All four films have a story interchanging its parallels whereas Kadakh has time to spend in between the lines of an unusual incident to get a hold of the entire story towards the conclusion. Rajat Kapoor’s screenwriting had smartness of continuity by playing a lively party with well-crafted supporting characters giving the couples a helping hand in a limited time. The audience will feel the misery and stay in the party unnoticed and waiting for the couples’ next steps towards the body lying in the box.

Other Notable Works:

Gibran Noorani (Halahal)

Nitin Kakkar & Sharib Hashmi (Ram Singh Charlie)

Mrunmayee Lagoo (Thappad)

Anvita Dutt (Bulbbul)

 

 

BEST DIALOGUES

BUDDHADEB DASGUPTA (ANWAR KA AJAB KISSA)

Other Notable Works:

Juhi Chaturvedi (Gulabo Sitabo)

Anurag Kashyap & Vikramaditya Motwane (AK vs AK)

Gibran Noorani (Halahal)

Nitin Kakkar & Sharib Hashmi (Ram Singh Charlie)

Rajat Kapoor (Kadakh)

 

 

BEST SCENE

THAPPAD

What else can there be the best scene of the year than the slap? Thappad is Anubhav Sinha’s social drama film centering on a slapping culture generally forced by men as a sign of gender dominance over women. Now we as the audience know that Taapsee will be slapped at some time in the film. The excellence of the slapping scene lies in the whole buildup which makes it so special.

Vikram enjoying one of the best evenings of his life, celebrating with his friends until that call which infuriates him and makes him verbally come into a rough argument with his colleague. Enters his wife, Amrita, trying to take her man to avoid the scene until becoming herself a scene and then comes a whacker.

Interestingly, she was nowhere involved in this incident. She became the victim and all the party attendees stared at her. Even after the slap, the scene continues to shoulder her in a slow-motion camera work towards her room with the female members of the family shell-shocked.

This slap scene is the core of the film and that part was directed superbly than any scene I have watched last year.

 

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MAJOR SECTION

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

BARUN SOBTI (HALAHAL)

Barun Sobti was one of the driving forces in Halahal’s excellence. Amongst the other best-supporting roles I have noted below, the only genuine competitor to him was Anurag Kashyap. But Anurag’s capacity as a supporting role was misleading and becoming equivalent to Anil’s leading character despite the plot’s thickness demanding the importance of Anurag’s role as secondary. What makes Barun worthier than Anurag to me is his supporting role justifying in the script and becoming a helping hand to Sachin Khedekar’s role. And Barun gave a realistic look to his role. His body language was more precise to work on the screenplay.

Other Notable Works:

Rajkummar Rao (Ludo)

Anurag Kashyap (AK vs AK)

Pankaj Tripathi (Gunjan Saxena)

Javed Jaffrey (Maska)

Deepak Dobriyal (Angrezi Medium)

 

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

MANISHA KOIRALA (MASKA)

Manisha’s terrific performance was penalized to a shockingly shorter period in the film where the leading roles were given to the amateur actors having a tough time running the film on their own. Manisha’s role had the weight, the charisma of the character who went into the skin and displayed rich body language, accent, and physical performance of a typical Parsi woman.

Other Notable Works:

Amruta Subhash (Choked)

Geetika Vidya Ohlyan (Thappad)

Seema Pahwa (Chintu Ka Birthday)

Shradha Kaul (Mee Raqsam)

Sanya Malhotra (Shakuntala Devi)

 

 

BEST ACTOR

KUMUD MISHRA (RAM SINGH CHARLIE)

Surprising, innit? None other than Kumud Mishra. Am I serious? Yes, I am. We have been watching him playing different character roles, most prominently since starring in Rockstar. But expecting to do a leading role? One has to ask the director’s thinking behind considering him for such a physically challenging role. He dropped his weight, he did Chaplin impersonations, he ran driving a rickshaw. And there were moments where Kumud executed so well. That scene where Ram Singh paints his face and gets emotional or when he meets himself and speaks to him, those were the melting points.

There were other actors who did so well like Adil in Pareeksha especially when he confesses his crime, drops my jaws. Sachin surprised me in Halahal. Sanjay did such justice to his role in Kaamyaab. Amitabh with age proved that he still is phenomenal in whatever role he considers to play. Anil Kapoor’s role in AK vs AK was the only tough competitor to Kumud’s as he gave his career’s best performance.

Other Notable Works:

Amitabh Bachchan (Gulabo Sitabo)

Anil Kapoor (AK vs AK)

Adil Hussain (Pareeksha)

Sachin Khedekar (Halahal)

Sanjay Mishra (Kaamyaab)

 

 

BEST ACTRESS

DEEPIKA PADUKONE (CHHAPAAK)

This one was easy for me. No, I am not judging her performance because the makeup was impressive. With this real-life character, Deepika smoked a soul and gave a performance she has rarely given before. She applied a different facial and body language. Notice how she smiles and laughs when she interacts with Amol.

Amongst the best performances I have written below, Deepika’s toughest competitor for me was Taapsee Pannu who had a similar victim card but less severe than an acid-attack which was a face slap. But Taapsee’s most acting minutes in consequences of the incident were gloomy and in despair. More emotional and a little slow.

Other Notable Works:

Kangana Ranaut (Panga)

Saiyami Kher (Choked)

Taapsee Pannu (Thappad)

Sanjana Sanghi (Dil Bechara)

Tillotama Shome (Sir)

 

 

BEST DIRECTOR

RANDEEP JHA (HALAHAL)

On his directional debut, I think Randeep Jha has learned a lot of directional techniques straight from Anurag Kashyap for whom he was assistant director in Ugly, Raman Raghav 2.0, and Mukkabaaz. Because you will see some glimpse of Anurag when you watch this Halahal. I am really impressed with the tone of the film on which the story is developed.

Keeping it to hardly 100 minutes, Randeep Jha wastes no time in building the plot and grows it to further implications. And the most important element which the director misses about the film in India, Halahal gets its deserving technical ending, a fitting conclusion.

Other Notable Works:

Vikramaditya Motwane (AK vs AK)

Devashish Makhija (Bhonsle)

Nitin Kakkar (Ram Singh Charlie)

Anubhav Sinha (Thappad)

Safdar Rahman (Chippa)

 

 

BEST FILM

AK vs AK

And now the final winner!!! Six films were in my mind. And after closely observing all of these works, I believe AK vs AK is easily the best film of 2020. AK v AK is about real-life celebrities, director Anurag Kashyap and actor Anil Kapoor, who were not destined to work with each other in the past, and at some event, they throw themselves into a heated argument resulting in a professional enmity. Anurag takes his revenge by kidnapping Anil’s daughter Sonam Kapoor and films his struggle to find her.

This is the funniest kidnapping you will watch in any Indian film. You are watching something you have never experienced. This mockumentary-style cat-and-mouse mystery chase is a blend of suspense, black comedy rich with entertainment.

Other Notable Works:

Halahal

Bhonsle

Ram Singh Charlie

Thappad

Chippa

 

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MULTIPLE WINS & NOMINATIONS
WINS	NOMS	FILMS
3	7	Bulbbul
3	7	Halahal
2	3	Love Aaj Kal
2	9	Taish
1	2	Ginny Weds Sunny
1	2	Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa
1	2	Chhapaak
1	2	Chintu Ka Birthday
1	2	Maska
1	3	Kadakh
1	4	Choked
1	4	Bhonsle
1	6	Thappad
1	7	AK vs AK
1	10	Ram Singh Charlie
	1	Shakuntala Devi
	1	Baaghi 3
	1	Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan
	1	What Are The Odds
	1	Panga
	1	Dil Bechara
	1	Sir
	2	Angrezi Medium
	2	Gunjan Saxena
	2	Malang
	2	Axone
	2	Yeh Ballet
	2	Pareeksha
	3	Shikara
	3	Kaamyaab
	3	Mee Raqsam
	4	Ludo
	4	Gulabo Sitabo
	6	Chippa

(Most of the images used in this blog are produced from the web sources inserted in the image.)

Thank you for reading my annual Bollywood honors report. I will return with a new report next year. Share your opinion below. Stay safe.

 

My Bollywood’s Best of 2019

I cordially welcome to my 6th annual Bollywood honors report.

In the past three decades, I have observed that many showbiz platforms, especially the most prestigious Filmfare, do not do much of the justice with their Hindi-language films with their ultimate decisions about the nominations and wins. So, many ‘good’ work doesn’t get the credit.

Since 2014, I have been publishing an annual report on my blog about the Hindi-language film industry of India. The purpose of this report/blog is to inform my fellow cinephiles about the better prospects of filmmaking in the film industry and making them aware of the rich quality of films that either caught the viewer’s attraction and received the deserving praise or unluckily went unnoticed and unrecognized. Following are my previous reports about the best of Bollywood:

2014  2015  2016  2017  2018

My judgments are based on the realistic measures fetched from the films whether those are big or small budgeted, comprised of an ensemble or lesser-known cast. No compromise on quality. Every year, I dig around three dozen potential Hindi films, watch, and judge, pass the reviews and note down the artistic and technical excellence.

For 2019, the following 35 films were selected:

Gully Boy, Jaoon Kahan Bata Ae Dil, Badla, Bala, Chopsticks, Thackeray, Sonchiriya, Soni, Kesari, Hamid, Batla House, Bombairiya, Article 15,  House Arrest, The Accidental Prime Minister, Photograph, Laal Kaptaan, Upstarts, Mardaani 2, Saand Ki Aankh, The Fakir Of Venice, The Tashkent Files, Mission Mangal, Ujda Chaman, Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota, The Body, Mere Pyare Prime Minister, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, Super 30, Chhichhore, Posham Pa, The Sky Is Pink, Section 375, Manikarnika, and Kabir Singh.

Once I am done with all the selected films, I decide by finalizing the works and pick the winner.

So how this all works?

1. 21 categories are segregating into three different sections. These sections are musical (5), technical (10) and major (6) sections.
2. Each category has a winner and ‘maximum’ 5 honorable mentions which are unranked and labeled as ‘Other Notable Works’.
3. If I require, I will provide a short detail for the category.
4. After finishing with 21 categories, I will write down a total number of nominations and honors submitted in my report as stat fun.

The wait is over…

Allow me to honor Bollywood’s artistic and technical excellence of 2019 according to Sami Naik.

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MUSICAL SECTION

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE

PETER RAEBURN (PHOTOGRAPH)

Other Notable Works:

Benedict Taylor & Naren Chandavarkar (Sonchiriya)

Andrew T. Mackay (Hamid)

Benedict Taylor & Naren Chandavarkar (Laal Kaptaan)

Karan Kulkarni (Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota)

Mangesh Dhakde (Article 15)

 

BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

B PRAAK (TERE MITTI – KESARI)

BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

SHREYA GHOSHAL (GHAR MORE PARDESIYA – KALANK)

 

BEST SONG & LYRICS

AZADI (DIVINE & DUB SHARMA – GULLY BOY)

To be honest, I decided the winner between the three best songs of 2019 unsurprisingly from the same film; Doori, Apna Time Ayega, and Azadi. All three songs were the outcry on social problems and rebel rage. Azadi was the one I felt the best with much deeper commentary.

Other Notable Works:

Doori (Ranveer Singh/Javed Akhtar/Divine/Rishi Rich – Gully Boy)

Apna Time Aayega (Ranveer Singh/Divine/Ankur Tewari/Dub Sharma – Gully Boy)

Ghar More Pardesiya (Shreya Ghoshal/Amitabh Bhattacharya/Pritam – Kalank)

Ve Maahi (Arijit Singh/Asees Kaur/Tanishk Bagchi – Kesari)

Tum Hi Aana (Jubin Nautiyal/Kunaal Vermaa/Payal Dev – Marjaavan)

 

BEST MUSIC

ANKUR TEWARI & VARIOUS ARTISTS (GULLY BOY)

Other Notable Works:

Amaal Mallik, Mithoon, Vishal Mishra, Sachet–Parampara & Akhil Sachdeva (Kabir Singh)

Arko Pravo Mukherjee, Tanishk Bagchi, Jasbir Jassi, Chirantan Bhatt, Gurmoh & Jasleen Royal (Kesari)

Pritam (Kalank)

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TECHNICAL SECTION

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

DIVYA GAMBHIR & NIDHI GAMBHIR (SONCHIRIYA)

Other Notable Works:

Manish Tiwari (Hamid)

Arjun Bhasin & Poornamrita Singh (Gully Boy)

Niharika Bhasin (Photograph)

Maxima Basu (Laal Kaptaan)

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

SUZANNE CAPLAN MERWANJI (GULLY BOY)

Other Notable Works:

Subrata Chakraborty & Amit Ray (Kesari)

Nikhil Kovale (Article 15)

Rita Ghosh (Sonchiriya)

 

BEST SOUND DESIGN

ANTHONY RUBAN (MARD KO DARD NAHIN HOTA)

Other Notable Works:

Anish John (Laal Kaptaan)

Kunal Sharma (Sonchiriya)

Anirban Sengupta (Badla)

 

BEST EDITING

MANAS MITTAL (THE SKY IS PINK)

Other Notable Works:

Charu Shree Roy (Chhichhore)

Monisha R. Baldawa (Badla)

Nitin Baid (Gully Boy)

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

SHANKER RAMAN (LAAL KAPTAAN)

Other Notable Works:

Tim Gillis & Ben Kutchins (Photograph)

Ewan Mulligan (Article 15)

John Wilmor (Hamid)

Ravi Kiran Ayyagari (Posham Pa)

Jay Oza (Gully Boy)

 

BEST ACTION

ANTON MOON & SUNIL RODRIQUES (SONCHIRIYA)

Other Notable Works:

Parvez Sheikh & Lawrence Woodward (Kesari)

Amin Khatib (Batla House)

Abdul Salaam Ansari (Laal Kaptaan)

Eric Jacobus (Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota)

 

BEST STORY

AIJAZ KHAN & RAVINDER RANDHAWA (HAMID)

Yes, it has to be Hamid. People tell me that Bollywood doesn’t make good films. The point is if Bollywood is coming up with quality stories, yes. That is the other thing if viewers are ready to accept or not. Article 15 raised the equality issue and Upstarts was a much-needed push for the people who create a startup with dreams of building it big. Section 375 was a courageous effort of depicting a misleading part of feminism and Photograph was a situational drama about the meeting of two very different people. While Gully Boy was about the struggles of the street rappers.

Hamid is a completely different plot than any 2019 film I have watched. Hamid is an impressive, heartbreaking and emotional story about a 7-year-old kid in Kashmir who has lost his father and his relatives comfort him that his father has gone to Lord to do some work. Desperate to meet his father again, he quests for some source to speak to God in all innocence.

Other Notable Works:

Zoya Akhtar & Reema Kagti (Gully Boy)

Anubhav Sinha & Gaurav Solanki (Article 15)

Ritesh Batra (Photograph)

Udai Singh Pawar (Upstarts)

Manish Gupta (Section 375)

 

BEST SCREENPLAY

KETAN BHAGAT & UDAI SINGH PAWAR (UPSTARTS)

I am much focused on screenplays whenever I watch a film. The entire film can drop your emotions wherever the screenwriting falls flat. It is a very essential part of filmmaking. People hardly know about this film and astonishingly is the best screenwriting against many excellent writings of 2019 for me.

Let me tell you why. In almost 120 minutes of the screen time, writers Ketan and Udai (who is also the director) tell you about some friends who think about creating a startup and convincingly fit all the phases of business cycles. The film neither runs in haste not goes slow. The pace is neutral and the story easily grows on me. It is not easy to tell all the business phases in precision in given limited screen time. And that is why for me, the screenplay of Upstarts is the best.

Other Notable Works:

Manish Gupta & Ajay Bahl (Section 375)

Ritesh Batra (Photograph)

Anubhav Sinha & Gaurav Solanki (Article 15)

Zoya Akhtar & Reema Kagti (Gully Boy)

 

BEST DIALOGUES

VIVEK AGNIHOTRI (THE TASHKENT FILES)

I don’t know if anyone will agree with me but this film actually had the most contrasting dialogues than any film last year. A young journalist gets an assignment to solve the decades-old mystery about the assassination of the former prime minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri. She gets a place in a committee to dig into this matter where different kinds of intellectuals sit and argue.

So for this kind of political thriller, the dialogues require a terrific momentum of an intellectual conversation, history talks, rumors, blames, heated arguments, bold and bullet criticism, and I believe Vivek Agnihotri nailed it. Impressive dialogues were the main reason that the loud performances of such an ensemble cast doubled the worth of this film.

Other Notable Works:

Manish Gupta & Ajay Bahl (Section 375)

Sumit Saxena & Ravinder Randhawa (Hamid)

Piyush Gupta (Chhichhore)

Anubhav Sinha & Gaurav Solanki (Article 15)

Aadish Keluskar (Jaoon Kahan Bata Ae Dil)

 

BEST SCENE

BASANTI DON’T DANCE (SUPER 30)

This may be unpopular or unexpected choice after watching all the films of 2019 but I found this 8-minute shot one of the best things ever happened in Bollywood in recent years.

This is when teacher Anand Kumar orders his students to perform a street act outside the school for 20 minutes strictly in English without uttering a single Hindi word. The next day, the kids strive out in front of the scores of students and get an outrageous response. The spectators roar to leave and the performers refuse. In repetition, the performers somehow finds the way to extend the act by giving an unexpected entertainment for which they didn’t prepare for. The beauty is that Basanti Don’t Dance naturally happens without the teacher’s instructions with the help of the spectators and angry response by floor beatings.

This crazy segment was deep, dark, bizarre and a remarkable commentary of class divisions. This was an astonishing presentation of a mind-blowing provocation against classism. Ganesh Acharya’s superb choreography and powerful performances by those youngsters gave that lengthy sequence a distinguished quality of filmmaking.

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MAJOR SECTION

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

VISHAL JETHWA (MARDAANI 2)

Not MC Sher from Gully Boy? I am afraid not. I admit it was, without any doubt, a wonderful performance on his debut but my opinion is that it is the popularity of the character and the performances leading to his favor, especially in the awards function. Tremendous confidence in the role he played but there weren’t many minutes to invest for acting than the focus was on his performance. I think Murad’s other friend Moeen had a much sensible performance.

Another factor that the readers must understand is the comparison with the other supporting roles. There were other actors last year who I believe certainly did better than Siddhant. In my mind, two were the closest in this honor, Deepak Dobriyal, and Vishal Jethwa. Deepak’s case was highly physical and Vishal’s case was mental. Deepak has the experience, Vishal is a 25yo debutant whose incredible villainous role in Mardaani 2 caught our attention. Vishal’s facial performance and killer eyes brought horror in the script and gave a memorable performance which will certainly remind anyone of Ashutosh Rana’s earliest success in Dushman and Sangharsh. Imagine, both Dobriyal and Jethwa were not nominated in this category in Filmfare!

Other Notable Works:

Vijay Varma (Gully Boy)

Ranvir Shorey (Sonchiriya)

Manoj Pahwa (Article 15)

Deepak Dobriyal (Laal Kaptaan)

Varun Sharma (Chhichhore)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

AMRUTA SUBHASH (GULLY BOY)

Other Notable Works:

Rasika Dugal (Hamid)

Farrukh Jaffar (Photograph)

Pallavi Joshi (The Tashkent Files)

Anjali Patil (Mere Pyare Prime Minister)

Mahie Gill (Posham Pa)

 

BEST ACTOR

RANVEER SINGH (GULLY BOY)

I never thought Ranveer will ever impress me but one thing was for sure that his energetic charisma can get the use of better promises. He needs a director who can develop his acting potentials and here we are. Zoya picked the right man for the role. Ranveer is naturally the perfect Gully Boy.

An escapist and socially furious Murad is lost in the troubles from his domestic life and love affair. Addicted to his passion, he raps his social commentary and inclines towards the changes in the coming times.

Other Notable Works:

Ayushmann Khurrana (Article 15)

Talha Arshad Reshi (Hamid)

Anupam Kher (The Accidental Prime Minister)

Hrithik Roshan (Super 30)

Akshaye Khanna (Section 375)

 

BEST ACTRESS

BHUMI PEDNEKAR (SAAND KI AANKH)

I don’t know how did Alia Bhatt win Filmfare in this category. Technically, Alia’s role in Gully Boy is more of supporting as the film is completely centralized on Ranveer as Gully Boy. More bizarre was Bhumi not being nominated for her performance in Saand Ki Aankh but won the critics award.

Anyway, why Bhumi? She plays the role of an old villager and the portrayal is spot on. She brilliantly gets hold of the Haryanvi dialect and superbly adopts the mannerism of an old woman. Observe her walking style, rage, facial expressions and all funny scenes with Taapsee. This is Bhumi’s best performance to date and I found her to be the most impressive in executing her role. 

Other Notable Works:

Rani Mukherjee (Mardaani 2)

Vidya Balan (Mission Mangal)

Sayani Gupta (Posham Pa)

Priyanka Chopra (The Sky Is Pink)

Taapsee Pannu (Badla)

 

BEST DIRECTOR

SHONALI BOSE (THE SKY IS PINK)

This was a difficult decision. The tie was between Zoya and Shonali. Why I chose latter is because she took a very sensitive subject to its utter depth and also directed a few shots which hit straight to the heart like the couples arguing over transplant in the hospital, Aditi’s first mental collapse, Niren falling on his son’s lap and crying and many more. Shonali had a tough time in developing the characters due to different time periods.

Other Notable Works:

Ajay Bahl (Section 375)

Ritesh Batra (Photograph)

Anubhav Sinha (Article 15)

Abhishek Chaubey (Sonchiriya)

Zoya Akhtar (Gully Boy)

 

BEST FILM

GULLY BOY

What other film wins this honor than Gully Boy? There is no strong competition. There do are excellent films as mentioned below but none comes close to this. Gully Boy is the outcry from the slums of Mumbai where Murad is stuck in his tense domestic life and for escapism, tries to focus on rapping and does the social commentary.

Gully Boy, from all sorts, was a unique cinematic achievement where the voice of a lower-middle-class common man was whispered and the struggle of street rappers was depicted. I wish Gully Boy had made to the final round of the Academy Awards for the foreign-language category because this film was the most potentially acceptable film from all standards to reach the Oscar.

Gully Boy is full of energy and covers a few significant aspects like parent abuse and child labor. The story, screenplay, and dialogues are so carefully worked that the film easily grows on the viewers. Then the characterization also goes in favor to apply on remarkable writing. Some very impressive characters in the support develop the plot. The brilliance in the musical numbers does the rest.

Other Notable Films:

Sonchiriya

Hamid

Article 15

Upstarts

Section 375

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MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS
NOMS	FILMS
15	Gully Boy
10	Article 15
8	Sonchiriya
8	Hamid
7	Photograph
6	Laal Kaptaan
6	Section 375
5	Kesari
3	Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota
3	Kalank
3	Badla
3	The Sky Is Pink
3	Chhichhore
3	Posham Pa
3	Upstarts
2	The Tashkent Files
2	Super 30
2	Mardaani 2
1	Marjaavaan
1	Kabir Singh
1	Batla House
1	Jaoon Kahan Bata Ae Dil
1	Mere Pyare Prime Minister
1	The Accidental Prime Minister
1	Saand Ki Aankh
1	Mission Mangal

 

MULTIPLE HONORS
HONORS	FILMS
6	Gully Boy
2	Sonchiriya
2	The Sky Is Pink
1	Photograph
1	Kesari
1	Kalank
1	Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota
1	Laal Kaptaan
1	Hamid
1	Upstarts
1	The Tashkent Files
1	Super 30
1	Mardaani 2
1	Saand Ki Aankh

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Thank you for reading my annual Bollywood honors report. I will return with a new report next year. Share your opinion below. Stay safe.