Rishi Kapoor, Now Harshvardhan Kapoor….It’s Not Just The Kapoors Who Find The Popular Awards Questionable

Here is what the veteran actress Raakhee Gulzar had to say:

“When I was told I was getting the  award for best actress in an awful film called Beimaan I said I wouldn’t accept it , not when just a few years earlier they refused to give me the award for what I thought was a commendable performance in Sharmilee.They chose to give Asha Parekh the best actress award that year for Kati Patang.Shockingly they didn’t even give Sachin Dev Burman the best music award for his soulful music in Sharmilee. In fact Sachin and his son Rahul Dev Burman hardly ever got awards.”

Tapsee Pannu: “Awards for me are  are wonderful television shows.Those trophies look good on your livingroomshelves.That’s  about it.”

Tillotama Shome(that fine actress from Qissa, Children Of War,Shanghai and Tasher Desh): “I wouldn’t know about popular awards because I’ve never been nominated for any, let alone won. If I did win any I’d feel accepted as part of this wonderful fraternity. Never mind.We unsung artistes are like wild flowers.We will grow even through the cracks.”

Paresh Rawail : “The popular awards are worthless and useless.They are big marketing events with no substance.A glaring omission was my film Oh My God which didn’t get any nominations in the popular awards. And there’re innumerable such sins of omission. Awards are as useless as a tail on a teddybear.”

Subhash Ghai: “Popular awards lost their credibility long ago when they were turned into star-studded stage shows and commercial events for television channels. Filmfare was the first awards function to turn the commercial when they tied up with a gutka brand. The rest followed.Earlier all the awards were for excellence and not for commercial branding. Unlike the Oscars which we still respect for maintaining authenticity I attend our popular awards in the spirit of a festive gathering .I only feel excited when I see the awards for bestdebutants. That means we’ve new talent coming in.”

Sourabh Shukla: “There are too many awards.And an excess of anything leads to boredom.  If you eat too much chocolate the craving  is replaced by nausea.You can’t get excited about Holi if you had to play it seven times a year.Awards are a celebration of talent.If you have too many choices they are no longer exciting.”

Satish Kaushik: “Too many players spoil the game. These are more like reality shows than awards functions. I miss the days when there was one awards function, the Filmfare awards and the whole industry used to wait for it.”

Prasoon Joshi: “They are a kind of reality television. They’re designed to entertain viewers. Awards functions are like consumer products. If we come to terms with this it is easy to comprehend the presence  of so many  awards brands functioning within the awards space.As  long as we recognize today’s average awards function as a consumer item we are fine. India to that extend is unique. However I feel National awards are a little different as they are not marketing tools.”

Shailendra Singh(head honcho Percept Pictures): “It’s a buffet out there. You eat everything . But you don’t respect or enjoy anything.”