Tweeple Film Awards 2011

The Tweeple Film Award nominations have been announced and I have to say that I am among those who are disappointed at the results. I had assumed that the whole idea of these awards was to highlight performances and films that had been overlooked by other awards shows. In reality, what ended up happening was the same films and actors who were nominated for other awards were nominated here, as well.

To understand the nominating process is to understand why - namely, that the selection was done by big name film critics and by popularly nominated “tweeple” (i.e. twitter folk like me). Here is the Catch-22, the film critics are the same ones who generated the consensus opinions on the films that won awards in other awards shows. We don’t know how the breakdown in tweeple voting went just yet but it’s pretty clear that they went with the same consensus choices, too.


So, the real question is - what were the Tweeple Film Awards supposed to prove other than the fact that people who follow films tended to agree with most of the awards handed out by the big awards shows with a couple of exceptions that I’ll discuss.

[I’ll also note that most of my picks didn’t make it to the final list of nominations but I think that’s because not too many people actually saw - and appreciated - smaller films like Pankh.]

Here are the categories everybody cares about:

BEST FILM

Udaan
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha
Ishqiya
Peepli [Live]
Band Baaja Baaraat

The only real outliers here are Love Sex Aur Dhokha, which was only only otherwise nominated for the Star Screen Award, and Ishqiya, only nominated for the Apsara Awards.

Missing from this list are both the popular films like Dabangg, which scooped up a lot of awards because the general public liked it, and the smaller deliberately difficult films that the critics either didn’t get or didn’t see.

As for me, aside from Ishqiya and Band Baaja Baarat, there weren’t many Hindi films that really grabbed me as GOOD films in 2010. Tees Maar Khan and Dabangg were hugely entertaining but not the complete package. Guzaarish and Kites were both hot messes.

My real favorite films of 2010 - like in 2009 - were from down South: Raavanan, Madrasapattinam, and Endhiran.

BEST DIRECTOR

Vikramaditya Motwane for Udaan
Dibakar Banerjee for Love, Sex Aur Dhokha
Abhishek Chaubey for Ishqiya
Maneesh Sharma for Band Baaja Baaraat
Anusha Rizvi for Peepli [Live]

Interesting that it’s the exact same group of films that were for Best Film... this is one of those categories that I feel like everybody has different criteria for. That’s the thing with a lot of us film enthusiasts - we’re not trained.

Again, Abhinav Kashyap for Dabangg and Karan Johar for My Name Is Khan are not on the list. (Not that they really deserve Best Director but I highly doubt that people were judging the category on anything other than whether they thought the films were GOOD or not.)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE

Rishi Kapoor for Do Dooni Chaar
Ranveer Singh for Band Baaja Baaraat
Rajat Barmecha for Udaan
Omkar Das Manikpuri for Peepli [Live]
Hrithik Roshan for Guzaarish

Here is where things get a little more interesting because the Lead Role category isn’t tied to the whole culture of herogiri that other awards are. Notably missing are those big Heroes: Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan. However, Ranveer Singh was nominated for playing a hero role and Rajat Barmecha was nominated for being in a film that everybody liked.

What is a real shame is that missing from this list are those consistent heavy hitters who turn in stellar performance after stellar performance but with no recognition because they aren’t Heroes. I’m talking specifically about Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi for Ishqiya - both of whom we’ll see below in the supporting actor category.

What are the dividing lines between “Lead” and “Supporting?" And if Arshad and Naseer were BOTH supporting actors, does that make Vidya Balan the sole lead role of Ishqiya? That really doesn’t sound right to me.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE

Vidya Balan for Ishqiya
Anushka Sharma for Band Baaja Baaraat

Neetu Singh for Do Dooni Chaar
Kajol for My Name Is Khan
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for Guzaarish

This is more or less the exact same list as all the other awards and CRIMINALLY missing are Sameera Reddy for Red Alert and Lilette Dubey for Pankh. Neither film is amazing but both of these performances just shone - and both roles were much more complex than Kajol’s or Anushka’s. Just because the critical consensus ignores a film doesn’t mean that those actors should be unappreciated.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Ronit Roy for Udaan
Arshad Warsi for Ishqiya
Pradhuman Singh for Tere Bin Laden
Raghuveer Yadav for Peepli [Live]
Naseeruddin Shah for Ishqiya

Three of these actors should be in the Best Actor category. Pradhuman Singh did a fine job but there were better performances out there - almost all the supporting cast in Raajneeti for one thing. I’d also humbly suggest Amit Purohit as Salim in Pankh and Ankur Vikal in Striker.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (FEMALE)

Amrita Puri for Aisha
Aditi Vasudev for Do Dooni Chaar
Farrukh Jaffar for Peepli [Live]
Neha Chauhan for Love, Sex Aur Dhokha
Shernaz Patel for Guzaarish

I cannot believe Priyamani isn’t on this list - also Katrina Kaif and Shruti Seth in Raajneeti were very good.

So, is having awards chosen democratically that essentially reward the same films that everybody already awarded (except those excluded due to excessive popularity) really necessary?

If the experiment is continued next year, here is what I'd like to see:

1. Do not let the critics from mainstream publications vote on the nominations. Their voices are already heard in many outlets and lead to nominations packed with the same old faces we see everywhere else.

2. Make sure the jury who are voting on nominations have actually seen most of the films. I can't help but think that reason nobody voted for Sameera Reddy's amazing performance in Red Alert was that nobody saw it.

3. Have specific criteria that the jury are supposed to be looking for. What should the jury be looking for in Best Director? Is it the way scenes were set up? The performances he or she got from the actors? And what about for Best Actor? Can a comic performance be considered? Are Hero performances to be excluded entirely?

4. If filmi performances and films are going to be out of the running, make sure that jury members are aware of this. Maybe make a list of films that will not be considered for certain categories - this year it was unspoken that Dabangg didn't count as a GOOD film despite its massive popularity. Have criteria and stick to them.

5. Understand that you can't please everybody all of the time. I believe it was Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes who said that a good compromise leaves everybody mad. Don't pander to certain constituencies like the Passion For Cinema crowd because it's no better than Filmfare pandering to Karan Johar.