INTRODUCTION
I welcome all of you to my 9th 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 9th 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
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.
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.
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)
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)
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
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.
SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND WATCH FILMFAIR AWARDS HERE
FOLLOW ‘THE DARK KNAIK’ ON OTHER SOCIAL PLATFORMS
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/thedarkknaik
INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/thedarkknaik/
LETTERBOXD https://letterboxd.com/TheDarkKnaik/
Sami Naik | Film Critic 