The way the Filmfare Awards are administered it make everyone laugh. The winners of the awards are the ones whose films do worst business and the films are seen by even 1 per cent of the audience. For the last 10 years, Salman Khan had been the most bankable star of Bollywood. He never won one single filmfare award for best actor (male).
Right from Wanted, Salman Khan’s films steadily entered the 100 crore and 200 crore clubs. The list can refresh the memory. Ready did business of 125 crores. Dabaang did business of 130 crores. Dabaang 2 did business of
140 crores. Bodyguard did business of 150 crores. Ek Tha Tiger did business of 198 crores. Kick did business of 235 crores. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo did business of 219 crores. Bajrangi Bhaijaan did business of 320 crores. Sultan did business of 300 crores. It is really funny that after all the effort in those films Salman Khan did not get one single filmfare awards.
Aamir Khan boycotted filmfare awards. From that time the Filmfare association stopped even nominating Aamir Khan for any award. It is another joke. His film The Three Idiots did business of 202 crores. His film Dhoom 3 did business of 280 crores. PK did business of 340 crores. Presently Dangal will cross 350 crores. He won filmfare award for best actor (male) only twice but that too in films which he himself did not appreciate.
If we trace back at the history of filmfare awards he can see that great actors did win the filmfare only once in their lifetime, which is now mocked at by the new recipients. Shammi Kapoor won it only once for the performance in the film Brahmchari in 1968. There were actors who never won a filmfare award at all in their lifetime. Examples are Rajender Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Sadhna, Madhubala, Dharmender, Jeetender. These days, the great efforts of those brilliant stars are acknowledged by just giving them lifetime achievement award.
In respect of music the filmfare awards are a big mockery. While musical maestros like Naushad Ali were given filmfare award for best music only once (for the film Baiju Bawra in 1952), while composers like AR Rehman won it for 7 times.
Mohammad Rafi was the great musical phenomenon in Bollywood music ever. He won the filmfare award for the best male playback singer only 6 times. He dominated music from 1945 to 1972. For those 26 to 30 years, the number of awards did not show a correct picture. Where as these days we find non-singers like Ayushman Khurana won the filmfare award for best playback singer for the song “paanidaa rang dekhke”. It is a shame. Outstanding classical singer of th callibre of Manna Dey won the filmfare award for the best male playback singer only once in life, and that too for the song “hey bhai zara dekhke chalo” in Raj Kapoor’s film Mera Naam Joker.
Actors like Ajay Devgan, Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt hardly win any award. Films like Singham, Munna Bhai hardly get any credit. Shahrukh
Khan won the filmfare award for almost all the categories. He won it for best male actor, best male supporting actor, best villain, etc. Last year Salman Khan did not win it for Bajrangi Bhaijaan but Amitabh Bacchan won it for Piku. The same megastar Amitabh Bacchan did not win it for brilliant performance in Aakhree Rasta.
There were many eminent directors who did not filmfare awards inspite of giving great films. The list is very long. Raj Khosla, Tapan Sinha, Asit Sen, were some of the directors in that list. Dilip Kumar gave almost his life’s best performance in the film Footpath in 1954. He did not get any award for that film. He received filmfare award for comedy film Azaad in 1956. He again gave lifetime performance in the film Mughal-i-Azam. He did not get any award for that. Instead he got filmfare award for the film Kohinoor.
Raj Kapoor was outstanding in Awaara, Jaagte Raho. He did not get any award for them. He received award for the film Anari. Guru Dutt was outstanding in the films Pyaasa, Kagaz Ke Phool, Saheb Bibi aur Ghulam. He did not win any filmfare award ever. Amol Palekar was sublime in the films Chitchor, Choti Si Baat. He did not get any award for them. He won the award for the film Golmaal.
Madhubala was outstanding in the role of Anarkali in the film Mughal-i-Azam. She did not win the award. The award was won by Beena Rai for the film Ghunghat. Meena Kumari was so sublime in the film Pakeeza. She did not win the award. Hema Malini won the award for the performance in the film Seeta Aur Geeta. While Roshanlal Nagrath never won it for Barsaat Ki Raat, Chitralekha, Bheegi Raat, Laxmikant Pyarellal won it for Jeene Ki Raah. While Madanmohan did not get it for Jahanaara, Haqeekat, Mausam, Kalyanji Ananji won it for Kora Kagaz.
In 2016, the 2 best films had been Dangal and Sultan. Neither Aamir Khan nor Salman Khan will win any award for best male actor. Anushka Sharma was outstanding in Sultan and Aye Dil Hai Mushkil. She will also not win any award. Mohenjodaro had the best musi with AR Rehman doing magic. He will not win it this time. Neither Ashutosh Gowariker is going to win best director award inspite of making a difficult period film.
The awards also dont mean anything to these stars. If Ayushman Khurana win the best male playback singer award, he will never be a Mohammad Rafi, or Mukesh or Manna Dey. Filmfare can make a mockery of the system but cannot convert a poor actor into a great actor. Only filmlovers feel bad that these were the same awards which at one point of time Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari, Mohammad Rafi, Shankar Jaikishan, Bimal Roy got. So wrong artists getting the award really dilutes the system and pollutes bollywood film history on a whole.
