HIndie Awards 2016: Best Supporting Actor [Female] in A Regional Film

Best Supporting Actor [Female] in A Regional Film

So the Oscars are over and with that the Awards season effectively ends, right?...Wrong!!!

So what, the HIndie Awards season continues…

For the below nominees I would like to first mention, they are a bunch of strong performances by talented actors reflecting a slow but hopefully strong change for female actors to get greater roles in the coming times.

So let's get on with it, and the nominees for Best Supporting Actor [Female] in A Regional Film are…

 

Tisca Chopra as Meher Singh for Qissa: The Tale of A Lonely Ghost

Within just a few select moments in a film brimming with great tragedy and profound themes that overwhelm you, Tisca Chopra is able to leave a mark and make you feel the painful, tragic, pathos of a mother forced to abide by what is wrong simply on the basis of the patriarchal dominance within her household.

Just like the mother, Chopra is always lurking in the backdrop; never party to the decision, but always to the crime. The crimes she commits on her so called "Son", the crimes she commits on her discarded daughter, the crimes she commits on Neeli and above all the crime she commits on herself by remaining forever silence.

Silences that become a power in her performance as all she can do is weep and gasp for forgiveness when Kanwar confronts her with the heartbreaking truth; that she is like her husband, a monster.

 

Anushka Shetty as Maharani Devasena for Baahubali: The Beginning

With Baahubali, Shetty continues on the road to her evolution as an eye candy star to an actor truly hungry for more, in an industry that rarely plays fair if ever.

It's not easy for a female actor to leave an impact in Telegu cinema and Baahubali is also an example of the macho image perpertrated by this regional industry; yet Shetty rises above it with a stirring turn as the imprisoned Devasena.

One believes in her strength and faith in her son, but more importantly her resolve to survive. She projects and aura that wouldn't make the audience blink if she were to be released and promptly kicks Bhallala Deva's ass.

It's not richly layered in writing, but Anushka Shetty makes it so; capping of a year that shows despite the limitations, the chains she is in, in Telegu cinema; she, has finally arrived!

Rasika Dugal as Neeli for Qissa: The Tale of A Lonely Ghost

Amidst towering performances, Rasika Dugal as the gypsy girl thrown into a harrowingly complex marriage is a force to reckon with and how.

She stands toe to toe with Irrfan Khan, she adds a tenderness to the dynamic between her and Kanwar and she elevates those silences with Tisca Chopra. It's a small, shadowed but impactful role that sees Dugal become a breakout star.

She's been making waves on the independent scene and its high time Dugal got a big welcome for this fascinatingly feisty turn that sees her in nuanced moments trump the A-Listers.

Leela Samson as Bhavani for O Kadhal Kanmani

In OK Kanmani, Samson brings her charm to the fore with a dose of heartfelt brevity hiding a tragic shattered soul. She is in essence the drama of the film, thanks because her role really etches a place in your mind by her simple gestures, delivery and presence.

Surprising, that this is her acting debut yet she enriches her performance with a certain nuance. The little aside comments may make you laugh, but the heart wonders for her at time even more so than the simple cut and dry love story at the center.

It allows her to be the perennial supporting character by lifting the tension of the climax into provoking an emotional resonance of performances from the two leads as well as and especially giving the underrated Prakash Raj a lot to play with.

It is a supporting showing through and through, just the way it need be.

 

Ramya Krishnan as Sivagami for Baahubali: The Beginning

It comes as no surprise when watching Baahubali as to why Rajamouli decides to start the film with Sivagami, apart from plot convenience that is.

Despite how ill treated the women of the film, specifically warrior Avanthika [Tamanah] is by the end of the film; the initial foray suggests a strong presence of female characters.

Thanks to the writing behind her but also her own magnetic persona, Ramya Krishnan is able to jump that loop into crafting Sivagami as a formidable force of nature in control of the large flashback sequence with her stirring turn. She breathes fire, lording over the film with an apt scenery chewing turn that offsets the bland and the bad ahead of her in the form of her co-stars.

Krishnan essentially tethers you to the narrative and the essence of the politics of the world of the film with crisp delivery and fluid action. Maybe not by name, but by spirit she is the true Baahubali.

And the Winner is…

Leela Samson as Bhavani for O Kadhal Kanmani!

  

So there she is, your winner. Another award in the bag and so it's time to move onto…

Up Next: a doting grandfather forced to make a damning choice, a dry mouthed but unbiased judge in a farce of a case, a cantankerous old man hurting for love, a young firebrand that makes you laugh and a loyal warrior that has become a pop culture legend, causing the audience to ask…

Why did Kattapa kill Baahubali?...

The HIndie Award for Best Supporting Actor [Male] in A Regional Film

'Nuff Said

Aneesh Raikundalia

HIndie Awards 2016: Best Cinematography in A Regional Film

Best Cinematography in A Regional Film

Welcome back.

So the next award on the list is Best Cinematography in A Regional Film, and the nominees are…

Sebastian Edschmid for Qissa: The Tale of A Lonely Ghost

Spinning a web of stark harsh reality with a mythical dose, the cinematography of Edschmid captures the heart of darkness of his protagonist Umber Singh with utter mastery.

Much of the first part of the film is confined to the patriarch looming house with the lighting capturing a haunting quality to the complete darkness within. The films exterior shots exploring at time both a barren and lively Punjab. Shadows creep in when necessary with great significance; during Kanwar's mental breakdown at the time of his/her gender identity crisis.

The spell is completely bound during the ghostly transformation scene as the film reaches a mythical plane, Edschmid gives a haunting but spectacle like vibe aided by the scenic beauty of the barren lands of Punjab. It effectively codes his film in a seamless appealing color pallet of browns. Making Qissa what it is; a hauntingly magical old folk tale.

M.J. Radhakrishnan for Ottaal: The Trap

In Ottaal, veteran cinematographer Radhakrishnan is simply let be an observer capturing the scenic beauty of a small village in Kerala and by it the marshes and rivers that interact there.

This is not a knock on his work, in fact through the lens Radhakrishnan builds the atmosphere of the film. He captures a childish wonderment for the audience to truly invest in our protagonist, to heartbreaking results.

In a way the film live and dies on its cinematography, as its arresting visual intensity allows the simple moments to be relished with glee and the easy nature of a relationship build between the audience and the work. It's after all what any filmmaker in any aspect works towards.

Avinash Arun for Killa

It's always difficult for a cinematographer to be able to truly capture the spirit of a character and essentially become it without taking a completely subjective stance [in this case angle] and to maintain that through a film.

Writers can do it and so can actors. Such that their words and their performance essentially encapsulate the characters. Cinematographer can get really close and most do, to the point where one feels the character in their deepest soul through the lens however is only accomplished by a rare few and that too on the strength of their performers stealing that lens away.

Avinash Arun does it, whether with a close up onto Archit Deodar's terrfied face as he is left alone in the fort in a heavy rain or when the young boys are cycling into the shining sun in a long shot. He takes these scenic moments and somehow manages to make us feel that we are experience each and every singular point of this wondrous childhood adventure and evolution.

Maybe, maybe that's why the cinematographer is known as the magician?

Mahendra J Shetty and Aditya Vikram Sengupta for Asha Jaoar Majhe

Poetry in motion is what the camera captures in Aditya Vikram Sengupta's tale of a marriage in dire straights due to the financial crisis. Even then, bathed in the soft light and presenting the serenity of it all; there was no chance the couple wouldn’t be fine after all.

In Asha Jaoar Majhe the cinematography escapes into an ethereal sense without losing its grasp on the realism of the couple's growing angst and desperation to have that one moment in the day where they may savor each others company.

Here is where the cinematography takes us into a poetic beauty of the bed in a forest sequence and truly in its own right becomes a labor of love for the art form.

Mrinal Desai for Court

It's soberness is what makes the camera work in Court stand out. It's hard to remember due to its very cut and dry narrative, that the National Award Winning film is also a technical marvel.

With many uninterrupted long shots and moments of heady talk in its crux sequences; the cinematography becomes an underrated aspect yet one that never wavers or falters.

There is not a false note in how Desai captures his subjects in a fittingly cinematic procedural manner, taking up a characteristically brilliant stance of objectivity allowing the viewer to both be hit by the satirical deconstruction of the system all well as understand the nuances of each character without judgment or bias. Essentially capturing the heart of the story.

And the Winner is...

  

Avinash Arun for Killa!

So there you go, the award show is going full steam ahead. 

Up Next: A suffering woman blessing the love of two children, A guilt ridden mother forced to see her daughter become her son, A feisty compounded gypsy forced to live a lie of a marriage, A queen imprisoned for years thirsting to see her son and a warrior queen as the sharpest player in the game...HIndie Award for the Best Supporting Actor [Female] in A Regional Film

'Nuff Said

Aneesh Raikundalia

 

HIndie Awards 2016: Best Editing in A Regional Film

Best Editing in A Regional Film

So unlike previous years I'm not going to go in depth into things about the award at hand since each award gets a post of its own, unless there is certain things to add at the beginning.

Anyways let's move on.

So as previously mentioned; the first awards section is for Regional Cinema.

The first award is as titled above for Best Editing in a Regional Film, no nominees.

So the winner for Best Editing in A Regional Film is…

Aditya Vikram Sengupta for Asha Jaoar Majhe [Labour of Love]

 

The bengali language romantic drama is very much in the hands of Sengupta, who not only edits but also shoots, writes, directs and produces this 84 minute silent masterpiece.

Though the film does not win on the mere basis that it is simply so short but rather it does something that normally wouldn't count for strong editing. With its silent and gradually building moments it actually makes you feel every second of the film, of this simple genius narrative.

Not in a bad way that bores you, while most good films are meant to make you feel where did time pass by; this makes you believe that time is a constant there and it works in building and interesting world and atmosphere for the characters and then eventually bringing the separated by circumstances couple together.

It helps that Sengupta himself is the editor, understanding the value of each frame in the film that echoes a certain sentiment when seamlessly pieced together.

Unlike most directors he doesn't need to be indulgent on the edit table as the film is already so meticulously and precisely worked out that the flow in the edit comes together on its own, of course not denying his efforts.

So there you have it, the first winner of the 2016 edition of the HIndie Awards.

Up Next: A mythical and mystical Punjab, the simmering beauty of the countryside captured in the eyes of young boys with big adventures, the painstaking beauty of a world where loneliness threatens to creep in, the tranquility in the lands shared by a boy with big dreams and his grandfather and the simplicity of the Indian courtroom…

...The HIndie Award for Best Cinematography in a Regional Film.

'Nuff Said

Aneesh Raikundalia

HIndie Awards 2016

HIndie Awards 2016

 An Introduction

So, once again, once again I failed to deliver on a simple promise. I could not complete the For Your Consideration posts since I had a valid excuse; a lot on my plate…

Completing a screenplay, which I am still stuck on.

Moving back to Mumbai and no access to net, since I am looking for a place.

And other things, I'd rather not share here.

Anyways, onwards and upwards as they say. 

So since I cannot complete the posts that I wanted, I decided with time finally on my hands; I should get on with it and begin starting my HIndie film posts.

Of course, this also means having to lock down the final nominees; which is a difficult task. Certain films I have to see are pending and it is causing a major conflict in my schedule. I am hoping to get this awards show on the road before the Oscars and done at least a week or more into the next month.

As you know, there are 34 awards; and this year each award gets its own post [no matter how long or short].

Here are a few tidbits as to how the show will move forward;

-Though regional cinema outclasses Hindi cinema this year by a massive leap. Those awards will be the first presented. Then the Music awards, then Technical, Breakthrough, Script, Acting, Direction [which is one single award] and finally Picture.

-With singular posts this time; each set of acting awards [Hindi and Regional] will go on according to the best performances…

In fact why am I telling you all this? Let me just list down how the posts will go…

Best Short Film

Best Editing [Regional Film]

Best Cinematography [Regional Film]

Best Supporting Actor [Female] in A Regional Film

Best Supporting Actor [Male] in A Regional Film

Best Leading Actor [Male] in A Regional Film

Best Screenplay [Regional Film]

Best Director [Regional Film]

Best Regional Language Picture

Best Original Song

Best Original Score

Best VFX

Best Costume Design

Best Production Design

Best Editing

Best Cinematography

Best Ensemble

Best Breakthrough Performance [Female]

Best Breakthrough Performance [Male]

Best Breakthrough Director

Best Actor [Female] in A Supporting Role [Drama]

Best Actor [Male] in A Supporting Role [Comedy/Romantic]

Best Actor [Female] in A Supporting Role [Comedy/Romantic]

Best Actor [Male] in A Supporting Role [Drama]

Best Actor [Male] in A Leading Role [Comedy/Romantic]

Best Actor [Female] in A Leading Role [Drama]

Best Actor [Male] in A Leading Role [Drama]

Best Actor [Female] in A Leading Role [Comedy/Romantic]

Best Screenplay [Drama]

Best Screenplay [Comedy/Romantic]

Prettier

Best Director

Best Picture [Drama]

Best Picture [Comedy/Romantic]

So that's how it is going to go…

Another item to consider is that each section barring a few will have 5 nominations. Once again, it has been a struggle to fill out the female lead sections, despite how promising the future gender equation in Hindi cinema is looking like.

Apart from them however; since Regional cinema has been such a shining beacon for the past few year and I have had my eyes awakened to it...it will have seven nominations; each film from a different language. Sadly that means as you will see below, certain really superb films miss out.

Another huge rule I am establishing this year is that no individual can be nominated twice in the same sub-category...hence Deepika Padukone cannot gain two or three nomination for her performances this year which were all in the comedic/romantic genre. Or the breakthrough man Avinash Arun cannot be nominated in cinematography for both Masaan or Drishyam...no matter how stellar his work.

So let's get over with it, here are the nominees;

Best Motion Picture (Drama)	Best Motion Picture (Comedy/Romantic)
Dinesh Vijan and Sunil Lulla for Badlapur [EROS International]	Aditya Chopra and Maneesh Sharma for Dum Laga Ke Haisha [Yash Raj Films]
Shonali Bose and Nilesh Maniyar for Margarita With A Straw [Viacom 18 Motion Pictures]	NP Singh, Ronnie Lahiri and Sneha Rajani for Piku [Yash Raj Films]
Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Guneet Monga, Manish Mundra, Melita Toscan, Marie-Jeanne Pascal and Shaan Vyas for Masaan [Pathe]	Sajid Nadiadwala and Imtiaz Ali for Tamasha [UTV Motion Pictures]
Aditya Chopra and Dibakar Banerjee for Titli [Westend Films]	Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Kishore Lulla for Bajirao Mastani [EROS International]
Vineet Jain and Vishal Bhardwaj for Talvar [Junglee Pictures]	Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Kirti Nakhwa, Rohit Chugani and Ketan Maru for Hunterrr [Shemaroo Entertainment]
Best Director	Best Cinematography
Shoojit Sircar for Piku	Sudeep Chatterjee for Bajirao Mastani
Sriram Raghavan for Badlapur	Anil Mehta for Badlapur
Meghna Gulzar for Talvar	Nikos Andritsakis for Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!
Sanjay Bhansali for Bajirao Mastani	Rajeev Ravi for Bombay Velvet
Imtiaz Ali for Tamasha	Avinash Arun for Masaan
Best Screenplay (Drama)	Best Screenplay (Comedy/Romantic)
Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas and Pooja Ladha Surti for Badlapur	Juhi Chaturvedi for Piku
Shonali Bose for Margarita With A Straw	Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar for Dil Dhadakne Do
Varun Grover for Masaan	Harshavardhan Kulkarni for Hunterrr
Sharat Katariya and Kanu Behl for Titli	Deepak Venkateshan for Kaun Kitne Panee Mein
Vishal Bhardwaj for Talvar	Sharat Katariya for Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Best Actor in A Leading Role Drama (Male)	Best Actor in A Leading Role Comedy/Romantic (Male)
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Dashrath Manjhi for Manjhi: The Mountain Man	Ranveer Singh as Bajirao I for Bajirao Mastani
Randeep Hooda as Charles Sobhraj for Main aur Charles	Ranbir Kapoor as Ved Vardhan Sahni for Tamasha
Sushant Singh Rajput as Detective Byomkesh Bakshy for Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!	Ayushmann Khurrana as Prem for Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Irrfan Khan as Ashwin Kumar for Talvar	Dhanush as Daanish for Shamitabh
Varun Dhawan as Raghav 'Raghu' Pratap Singh for Badlapur	Gulshan Devaiah as Mandar Ponkshe for Hunterrr
Best Actor in A Leading Role Drama (Female)	Best Actor in A Leading Role Comedy/Romantic (Female)
Kalki Koechlin as Laila for Margarita With A Straw	Kangana Ranaut as Tanuja 'Tanu' Trivedi/ Kusum 'Datto' Sangwan for Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Anushka Sharma as Meera for NH10	Priyanka  Chopra as Ayesha Sangha-Mehra for Dil Dhadakne Do
Richa Chadda as Devi Pathak for Masaan	Deepika Padukone as Piku Banerjee for Piku
Tabu as IG Meera Deshmukh for Drishyam	Bhumi Pednekar as Sandhya for Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Pavleen Gujral as Pamela 'Pammy' Jaswal for Angry Indian Goddesses	Harshali Malhotra as Munni/Shahida for Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Best Actor in A Supporting Role Drama (Male)	Best Actor in A Supporting Role Comedy/Romantic (Male)
Ranvir Shorey as Vikram for Titli	Saurabh Shukla as Maharaj Braj Singhdeo for Kaun Kitne Panee Mein
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Liak Tungrekar for Badlapur	Deepak Dobriyal as Pappi for Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Anand Tiwari as Ajit Banerjee for Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!	Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Chand Nawab for Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Amit Sial as Pradeep for Titli	Irrfan Khan as Rana Chaudhary for Piku
Satyadeep Mishra as Chimman for Bombay Velvet	Anil Kapoor as Kamal Mehra for Dil Dhadakne Do
Best Actor in A Supporting Role Drama (Female)	Best Actor in A Supporting Role Comedy/Romantic (Female)
Konkona Sen Sharma as Nutan Tandon for Talvar	Tanvi Azmi as Radhabai for Bajirao Mastani
Sayani Gupta as Khanum for Margarita With A Straw	Shefali Shah as Neelam Mehra for Dil Dhadakne Do
Sandhya Mridul as Suranjana 'Su' for Angry Indian Goddesses	Sheeba Chaddha as Nain Tara for Dum Laga Ka Haisha
Revati as Shubhangini for Margarita With A Straw	Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai for Bajirao Mastani
Deepti Naval as Ammaji for NH 10	Moushumi Chatterjee as Chhobi Mashi for Piku
Best Breakthrough Actor (Male)	Best Breakthrough Actor (Female)
?	?
Best Breakthrough Director	Best Regional Language Film
Navdeep Singh for NH 10	Johanna Rexin, Thierry Lenouvel and Bero Beyer for Qissa [Punjabi]
Neeraj Ghaywan for Masaan	Vivek Gomber for Court [Marathi]
Prawaal Raman for Main aur Charles	Jonaki Bhattacharya, Aditya Vikram Sengupta and Sanjay Shah for Asha Jaoar Majhe [Bengali]
Kanu Behl for Titli	Dhanush and Vetrimaaran for Kaaka Muttai [Tamil]
Shonali Bose for Margarita with A Straw	K Mohan and Vinod Vijayan for Ottaal: The Trap [Malyalam]
Best Director (Regional Film)	Best Screenplay (Regional Film)
Aditya Vikram Sengupta for Asha Jaoar Majhe	Tushar Paranjape for Killa
Avinash Arun for Killa	M. Manikandan for Kaaka Muttai
Chaitanya Tamhane for Court	Chaitanya Tamhane for Court
Anup Singh for Qissa	Aditya Vikram Sengupta for Asha Jaoar Majhe
S.S. Rajamouli for Baahubali: The Beginning	Joshy Mangalath for Ottaal: The Trap
Best Leading Actor in A Regional Film (Male)	Best Leading Actor in A Regional Film (Female)
Irrfan Khan as Umber Singh for Qissa	Tilotama Shome as Kanwar Singh for Qissa
Archit Deodar as Chinmay for Killa	Nithya Menen as Tara Kalingarayar for OK Kanmani
Ritwick Chakraborty as The Man for Asha Jaoar Majhe	Geetanjali Kulkarni as Public Prosecutor Nutan for Court
Kamal Hassan as Suyamblingam for Papanasam	Basabdatta Chatterjee as The Woman for Asha Jaoar Majhe
Ashanth K Sha as Kuttappayi for Ottaal: The Trap	Amruta Subash as Mother for Killa
Best Supporting Actor in A Regional Film (Male)	Best Supporting Actor in A Regional Film (Female)
Parth Balerao as Suhas/Bandya for Killa	Tisca Chopra as Mehar for Qissa
Kumarakom Vasudevan as Valyappachy for Ottaal: The Trap	Anushka Shetty as Maharani Devasena for Baahubali: The Beginning
Pradeep Joshi as Judge Sadavarte for Court	Rasika Duggal as Neeli for Qissa
Sathyaraj as Katappa for Baahubali: The Beginning	Leela Samson as Bhavani for OK Kanmani
Vijay Sethupathi as Kailasam for Orange Mittai	Ramya Krishnan as Sivagami for Baahubali: The Beginning
Best Cinematography (Regional Film)	Best Ensemble
Sebastian Edschmid for Qissa	Dil Dhadakne Do
M J Radhakrishnan for Ottaal: The Trap	Masaan
Avinash Arun for Killa	Bajirao Mastani
Mahendra Shetty and Aditya Vikram Sengupta for Asha Jaoar Majhe	Titli
Mrinal Desai for Court	Talvar
Best Editing (Regional Film)	Best Short Film
?	?
Best Production Design	Best Costume Design
?	?
Best Editing	Best VFX
?	?
Best Original Song	Best Original Score
'Judaai' Badlapur, Rekha Bhardwaj and Arijit Singh	Sanchit Balhara for Bajirao Mastani
'Tu Kisi Rail Si' Masaan, Varun Grover and Swanand Kirkire	Various Artists for Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!
'Deewani Mastani' Bajirao Mastani, Shrey Ghoshal and Siddharth-Garima	Aditya Trivedi for Main aur Charles
'Dhadam Dhadam' Bombay Velvet, Neeti Mohan and Amitabh Bhattacharya	Bruno Coulais and Indian Ocean for Masaan
'Tum Saath Ho' Tamasha, Alka Yagnik and Arijit Singh	Amit Trivedi for Bombay Velvet

So there's the nominees from this years HIndie Awards. This year is quite a eclectic list, because honestly this has not been the best year for Hindi cinema, in fact the regional section was widened from just film because of how amazing it was to experience that side of the field.

A few things to note, below;

-Among the original score nominees; Amit Trivedi is the only former winner with two wins from four nominations. The only other former nominee is Indian Ocean, nominated in 2010 for Peepli Live.

-Unlike the 2012 edition of the awards which saw a three song sweep for Rockstar [2011], if it weren't for the current established rule of one song per movie; then Bombay Velvet could have [could, being the key word here] taken all five spots for a myriad of great songs. As per my original type of awards; it would have definitely [once again, a key word] won Best Soundtrack.

-The smaller awards with no nominations will remain a great mystery. Can you guess the champions?

-Ensemble is a tough nomination category to decide; since more top class ensemble films while work as a piece for actors also managed to land them individual nods. Then it's up to find the multiple actors across a single film that barely missed out on a nomination, weighing them against their nominated co-stars and getting the five top acting units. Then finally considering the most crucial factor for the category; how do they function as an ensemble and voila, these are your big five!

-Avinash Arun and Aditya Vikram Sengupta get their first of many nominations with three tough contenders behind them for splendid works.

-With a lot of actors pushed to the leading section, the female supporting crew comprises of repetitive films that gave their female characters a good chance.

-However the supporting men get to shine, with quite a few good nominees missing out e.g. Arvind Swamy's slick comeback as the villain of Thani Oruvan or the chilling presence of in RangiTaranga.

-A forceful push adds some spicy much needed variety to the female section for leading film female actors in Regional cinema of all ages and styles.

-The male section also proving to be a tough competition between youngsters, veterans and a dark horse.

-The screenplay and director awards indicate to the real champions of regional cinema. This year the likes of Rajamouli, Tamhane, Arun, Sengupta and Mangalath have made their language regions proud with some stellar game changing works.

-A film per language, divided into only five language nominees. So other outside language films miss out, while language number two's that are natural top fives also don't make the cut...sorry; Baahubali [Telegu] and Killa [Marathi] and more

-With a year filled with some stellar directorial debuts, this awards was a given; especially considering how easy it is to see each of these five as top directors this year rather than their other counterparts [honest confession].

-Breakthrough does not necessarily mean debut, but rather a young actor making up for one hell of a year that has changed their prospects pushing them from struggler to actor and from actor to star.

-The collective of supporting nominations reads as usual a mix of struggling actors who've finally made it big, wily character actor veterans and surprising leading players moving a peg down. It's a tough race in each category highlighted by four former nominees in the supporting categories of which there are two winners and also two other former acting nominees in the leading category.

-A few more notes; Dobriyal is a former winner in the same supporting category for the same role in the prequel film Tanu Weds Manu, a big X-Factor as such.

-Wow! Was the leading female actors spots difficult to fill?! Once again, this year there was just not enough performances to outright consider for the female quotient. Is it that hard to make ten sufficient roles for ten different women in Hindi cinema, so as they can shine.

-With the establishment of one nomination per person, it got truly difficult to fill the comedy/romantic side of things. So debutantes who would naturally vie for a breakthrough award are in this category, of course also because there's been a better breakthrough performance.

-Also note, it was extremely difficult to decide which Deepika Padukone performance would get the nomination. She had a phenomenal year!

-Of the female drama category, this year Tabu got bumped up to leading for her energy level raising work in Drishyam. Something that should have happened last year for her win in Haider as well. While it was a simple decision to pit Gujral above co-star Mridhul as leading for Angry Indian Goddesses as she was the better of the two performers that shone in the film.

-The leading actors is an eclectic collection of nominees with only Varun Dhawan being the new blood with his first nomination. Each category includes a stalwart winner with Irrfan having taken the trophy twice [once in the drama category] while Ranbir also having taken a win each in both categories. Can they stake their claims once more in a competitive year?

-The screenplay nomination are varied for comedy/romantic compared to the films that scraped through. While in drama it's a clear indication of which films have a strong foothold on the race through and through.

-The cinematography nominations read like a who's who of top class DOP's. Nothing to say here.

-A tough category to select; haven't even decided who would be the big winner meaning the race has an unpredictability to it that just doesn't make sense. Five top class directors with former nominees and a winner clashing with some of the best of the best.

-Yash Raj makes the giant leap this year with two big nominees in the Comedy/Romantic and right on their heels are other top distributors specifically UTV.

-In the drama category, the screenplay nominees completely lock it down. So is this a big indication of the winner or does a completely well rounded drama film take it?

So those were a few notes on the nominees. Of course one of the biggest takeaways is this; this year Hindi cinema has been all about the dysfunctional families in all its glory from comedic to completely dark. All of this being linked to the ideas of patriarchy, equality, masculinity and more.

So this is it, these are your nominees and I will soon get cracking with them. Till then enjoy.

'Nuff Said

Aneesh