National Awards Jury Chairperson Priyadarshan Tells Subhash K Jha
Why Akshay Kumar & Not Aamir Khan For Best Actor Priyan, a lot of people are wondering why Akshay Kumar in Rustom and and Aamir Khan in Dangal for the Best Actor?
Why should we have given the Best Actor award to Aamir Khan when he has made it very clear that he doesn’t attend awards functions? If he doesn’t want to accept the honour, what is the point in honouring him? Nowadays we have seen people returning their awards. We didn’t want to take that risk.
But he may feel differently about popular awards?
He was given the National award for Taare Zameen Par. But he didn’t attend. It would be insulting to the government and to the National awards if we honour an actor who doesn’t wish to turn up to receive the honour. And we are honouring an actor who is every bit as meritorious.
But Akshay was far superior in Airlift as compared with Rustom?
The award is for both Airlift and Rustom. The National awards jury felt Akshay was equally outstanding in the two contrasting roles. For technical reasons we could only mention one film in the winners’ list.
Eyebrows are bound to be raised since Akshay Kumar and you have collaborated over many movies in the past?
Should we not have honoured Akshay because we’ve worked together? If he’s good he’s good , no matter who honours him. For that matter another dear friend of mine Mohanlal has won the Special Jury Award for three films Pulimurugan, Janatha Garage and Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol. He is the only actor apart fromPrakash Raj to have won a National award for his performances in films of two different languages. Incidentally we did not include the fourth outstanding performance by Mohan Lal in Oppam because I directed Oppam.
What was your criteria for honouring actors?
That the actors should not be honored for playing tailormade roles. An actor from Haryana playing a Haryanvi or an action hero doing exceptional stunts ….these were not what we were looking for.We were looking at actors who stretched themselves beyond their comfort zone, like Akshay Kumar in Airlift and Rustom.
What about the Best Actress award award?Why not Sonam Kapoor in Neerja?
There too the jury selected Surabhi Lakshmi in in the Malayalam film Minnaminungu unanimously.
Was this an attempt to balance out the awards since a North Indian actor won the Best Actor award?
Not at all. Have you seen Minnaminungu?Surabhi plays a widow bringing up a child on her own. Her performance has immense social resonance. It’s a class act.
What was the one thing that you noticed among the film this year?
Two things. One, Indian cinema is really growing.We had a jury comprising members from Manipur to Kerala.We looked at some really outstanding films in Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam and even Manipuri. The other thing that we noticed is that the child actors this year were better than the adult actors! There were so many outstanding performances by child actors we couldn’t select one. We had to honour three child actors. Even the Best Supporting actress has gone to a child actor. Zaira Wasim in Dangal.
You couldn’t avoid Dangal, could you?
We weren’t trying to.

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Pink Director’s Next Featuring Yami As A Crime Reporter To Stream From February 16

Anniruddha Roy Chowdhury whose Pink featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu was one of the most important films of 2016, is all set to release his next Hindi film.
Entitled Lost, Anniruddha’s film , based on true events, will see Yami Gautam Dhar(that’s what the actress calls herself after her marriage) as a crime journalist. LOST is an emotional social thriller that represents a higher quest, a search for lost values of empathy and integrity.
Inspired by true events, Lost is a story of a bright young woman crime reporter in her relentless search for the truth behind the sudden disappearance of a young theatre activist.

Lost
Says Aniruddha “The shoot of LOST has been an incredible journey. I have been eager for the release of our hard-worked venture. The film is a realistic highlight of media in a social context and I am sure that it will give the audience a compelling watch. I am curious about its release and see the responses it shall get. I hope they will welcome it with open hearts.”
Yami Gautam Dhar who plays the lead of the crime reporter says, “I can’t be happier and more proud of the film’s selection for the opening night at CSAFF. I feel like its one that the people will connect to and will be the one that you cannot miss, especially in the current age and time. I have loved playing this role because it was such a special experience, it allowed me to explore so many layers of emotions as an actor and the entire team has worked really hard on it. I genuinely cannot wait for the film’s release, especially to see the reactions of the audience to it.”
The crime investigation drama boasts a stellar cast. Along with Yami, the film will feature Pankaj Kapur, Rahul Khanna, and an ensemble of younger talent, including Neil Bhoopalam, Pia Bajpai, and Tushar Pandey, in pivotal roles.
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Jamuna Had A Love-Hate Relationship With Bollywood

Veteran Telugu actress Jamuna who passed away on Friday, shared an uneasy relationship with the Hindi film industry.She did eleven Hindi films including the iconic Milan in 1967 where Jamuna agreed to play the second lead, or the supporting role if you will, to Nutan.
Jamuna as Gauri was the Other Woman who craved for the hero Sunil Dutt’s attention whereas he had eyes and devotion only for Nutan. In later years Aruna Irani played a similar role in Caravan.
In Milan Jamuna was not keen to do a supporting role. Producer L V Prasad tempted her with three chartbusting songs. Besides, Jamuna had played the same role in Mooga Manasulu, the Telugu original of Milan. But it was the songs composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal which convinced Jamuna to take up the second lead in Milan.
While Nutan had no solo songs in Milan, she did have the chartbuster duet Sawan ka mahina . Jamuna on the other hand, had two splendid Lata Mangeshkar solos: Tohey saawariya naahin khabariya and the magnificent Ghazal Aaj dil pe koi zor chalta nahin.Not only these, Jamuna also had a hit duet with Mukesh based on her character Gauri: Bol Gauri bol tera kaun piya.
But then, fate intervened. After the film released one of Jamuna’s solos, the poignant and memorable Aaj dil pe koi zor chalta nahin was snipped out of the film.
Here is what happened: the Ghazal , one of Lataji’s all-time greats, was very much a part of Milan when it released on 17 March 1967. But then it was seen to hamper the flow of the film and edited out. The beautiful song occurred right after intermission. Producer Prasad, a shrewd filmmaker, got to know that audiences prolonged their loo breaks as there was a song after the break. Hence the sacrifice of a seriously sonorous melody.
Jamuna hardly did Hindi films after Milan. Her last Bollywood appearance was in Raj Kumar Kohli’s Raj Tilak where she was lost in a multistarrer as the royal queen.
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Karan Johar Moves Alia Song From Switzerland To Kashmir

The romantic duet in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani which was to be shot in Switzerland and which was delayed due to the film’s leading lady Alia Bhatt’s motherhood, is now being relocated to Kashmir.
Purely out of the love for new mom Alia.
Says a source in the know, “Karan loves Alia like his own daughter. He would do anything for her. He postponed the release of Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani as the love duet could not be shot before Alia’s maternity leave. Karan had decided to shoot the song in Switzerland after Alia’s maternity love. But now he has relocated the song to Kashmir as Alia doesn’t want to leave her baby girl behind for long stretches.”
And as Karan Johar argued, snow is snow. How does it matter whether it is Switzerland or Kashmir?
This song would be Karan Johar’s tribute to his idol Yash Chopra. Alia would be dressed in chiffon sarees while Ranveer, for a change, would be seen in formals.
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Bobby Deol’s Switchover To Villainous Roles

After Prakash Jha’s webseries Ashram where Bobby played a sleazy godman, and Love Hostel where he was a ruthless assassin, he is playing the villain to Ranbir Kapoor in Sandeep Vanga’s Animal.
Bobby says it is not conscious career decision to play negative characters but a conscious decision to play interesting characters. “ I don’t look at characters as positive or negative.When I watch films there is always one character that stays with you. I want to play that character.”
Prakash Jha’s Ashram proved a gamechanger for Bobby. He admits finding challenging roles is tough. “I am trying. I am doing Sandeep Vanga’s Animal with Ranbir Kapoor , Parineeti Chopra. Then I am doing the family film Apne 2 which I am very excited about.”
In an earlier interview with this writer Bobby spoke about his long absence from screen before Prakash Jha’s Ashram. “My fans would ask why I wasn’t being seen on the screen.And I couldn’t tell them it was because I wasn’t getting good roles. But my fans stood by me. They gave me the strength to keep looking for the right roles. Thankfully I found the roles I liked. My new films have given me some new fans. I am thankful I am still here. Yeah , I am in a good space right now.”
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