The Fair Film Award

There’s a new movement to honour deserving films. But what does it mean?

Some movements happen so quickly that they surprise the people who initiated them. Something like this happened in December on Twitter, when Nikhil Taneja, a popular young man who took a break from film journalism and was recently employed by MTV, expressed dismay at the nominees list for the Zee Cine Awards. The best actors list featured two Khans not named Aamir, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Ranbir Kapoor. The best actor (fe­male) list included Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif.

And what really got his goat: Sajid Khan in the best directors list for Housefull.

A lament followed about how compromised these awards—all awards—had become.

What happened next happened rapidly. Twitter doesn’t necessarily require the speaker to reach out. You say a thing and it floats out there, waiting for a response from someone who feels. Taneja’s disappointment was echoed and magnified because... well, Sajid Khan? The possibility of a legit film award that really meant something was raised. It would contain no befuddling choices, and its jury, by dint of containing the most respected  critics out there, would be motivated by its love for movies. In four days, the Twifi awards had a thousand followers. In the days that followed, all major critics barring those from The Times of India were asked if they wanted to come on board. They did. For now, there is optimism.

But here’s the thing. Filmfare, however compromised the whispers (and the bullhorn) say it is, has a critics’ award. This rewards a film such as Udaan (best film, critics). It allows Vidya Balan to get one (best female actor, critics) while Kajol wins the uncritical category for her work in My Name is Khan. This lends the award an air of mild schizo-phrenia, but it tells you what people want. It rewards the box office, it rewards popular stars, and that’s the main show. For everything else, there’s the critics’ award.

Reactions to the movement can be deeply encouraging, but there’s a strong sense that it will remain a fringe movement. Because right now it’s an award judged by tweeple, not people. What gives this revolution strength are the names behind it. All respected, mostly insightful, and all with a deep regard for the movies. But while a revolution has its leaders, it needs people, not just tweeple, to carry it through. Alas.