Best Actor [Female]
in a
Supporting Role [Drama]
We are finally here, the section most people adore; the actors awards. This year has seen a mixed bag of winners at major Indian Awards, particularly in the acting category as usual with some shock winners in the supporting category as well. Though not that shocking.
One of my biggest gripes is the number of times, some awards shows give one award to two people, it devalues the system of nominees and award winners greatly.
Anyways, overlooking my gripes. Some of the key moments last year, in the evolution of progression in cinema came both from the outside and inside of film, from women.
The much lauded speech on equality by Oscar winner Patricia Arquette, began a landslide into probing into the issues of equality for women in the cinema structure both in Hollywood and back home.
Also, slowly but surely; Hindi cinema probed further in their focus on female oriented stories, but that also doesn't mean that certain male dominated or overall star dominated films; didn't have meaty roles for not just supporting men but women to chew on.
The five below made staggering strides with the little time they had on screen, these other few just ran late to make the cut;
Tapsee Panu for Baby: So she really doesn't get to act per se, but Panu is so brilliant in her subversive damsel in distress sequence, she deserves this mention.
Huma Qureshi and Divya Dutta for Badlapur: The duo are great highlights in a film that doesn't do the women characteristic justice in great fashion.
Raveena Tandon for Bombay Velvet: Ok so she barely has a character, but she's so fantastic as the jazz singer, she completely overshadows Anushka Sharma in a matter of minutes.
Shweta Tripathi for Masaan: See Ensemble Cast
Shefali Shah for Brothers: The only good thing in this tepid remake, Shah is brilliant in understanding the pitch of melodrama and echoing it as best as she can
Ridhima Sud for Kajarya: I haven't seen this one yet, but heard some great things about the two performances. Sud would have been for supporting.
So those three are it, now let's move onto the nominees for HIndie Award for Best Actor [Female] in a Supporting Role [Drama]...
Konkona Sen Sharma
as Nutan Tandon for Talvar
Much of Talvar's conflict revolves around the death of young Shruti Tandon, so when two different sides try to understand who the culprit is in the mystery while the investigation grows much more convoluted.
So as viewers we are constantly thrown into the scene after the death in order to understand the emotional trauma the parents go through or not depending on whether they are the killers or not. So Konkona gets to repeatedly play the scene and she does so bringing different nuances to the scenes;
Where in one, her over the top fake acting to offset her coldness to her daughters death is brilliant, the other bursts with a great pain.
While those are played to perfection through perspectives of other individuals, Konkona also remains brilliantly opaque yet retains an emotional core when it comes to scenes actually involving her point of view. Particularly well at straddling the line, she thus keeps the audience hooked on the drama and objective to the situation.
Sayani Gupta as
Khanum for Margarita With A Straw
It might sound crass [but it just shows how terrible cinema as a whole has been about crafting characters of different sexuality and disabilities] but it is great to see Hindi filmmakers create and accept a character that is both disabled [blind] and has a different sexual orientation then what is considered accepted.
Khanum is a blind lesbian living in America, she is fighting for social causes. She is free and she helps Laila [Koechlin] realize her own reality and accept her normalcy and humanity at the cost of her own heart break. It's a risky role for a young actor to take on, but Gupta does with both hands.
She pulls it off with aplomb, bringing a great dexterity to her performance making it truly believable that she is blind. She along with Kalki creates a sweet chemistry, that adds a lot to her moment when she is confronted with Laila's betrayal.
Her piercing eyes speak volumes without ever hindering her characters integrity, it is a difficult performance to pull of but it's one she does with ease. No wonder she's been picked up by big makers, with her next being Fan with the King Khan.
Sandhya Mridul as
Suranjana 'Su' for Angry Indian Goddesses
One of the two only great things about this pretentious feature, Mridul as the older single mother in a group of rowdy party ready spinsters on a Goan week bachelor party, it's a different character that plays to Mridul dark horse strengths.
She plays a roughness that sees her go through a sort of freeing redemption in her understanding of the things that truly matter. Her character has a lot to handle with a central conflict between the ladies stemming from her own interests going against the couple's while also her neglect of her daughters.
These emotional points make it great for her to give a performance rising above the material around her. There are moments where she hits some snarky lines, but much of her turn revolves around her reflection of the psychology of a character trying to fit int while conflicted from different sides.
Revati as
Shubhangini for Margarita With A Straw
Struggling with her own issues and the growing pains of her daughter and her sexuality, all Shubhangini ever wants is to be acknowledged before she disappears completely. She probably never gets that, adding a tinge of tragedy to the silver clouds that are her witness to how free and "normal" and loved her daughters life is.
Revati is a master class performer in this role, she is the able to support to Kalki's Laila, she tends to her and is gatekeeper to her greatest secrets. The final moments are a focus on this relationship as the storm of Laila's relationship with Khanum [Gupta] comes to the fore and she finally also gets to experience her deteriorating moments as her cancer takes over.
In this space, Revati is a genius; crafting a vulnerability, a staunchness, a close mindedness yet a caring for her daughter with just the simplest of motions. The flavors of nuance make a performance that much richer and enjoyable for the viewer and Revati is bursting at the seams with this one.
Deepti Naval as
Ammaji for NH 10
In the space of few minutes Deepti Naval proves that she is still one of the finest. Playing the cold heart [or so we think, but she doesn't] matriarch, Naval comes as a surprising entrant.
She balances what is essentially a despicable character in a slasher full of them with a misguided heart, it's an actors job to make us truly believe the character by believing in the characters convictions. It's what it mean when we say that an actor gets into the skin of the character.
Ammaji calls for the death of her own daughter as an honour killing because she runs away with her lover. When Ammaji sells her reasons as well as her love for her daughter, but her duty above all else; Naval is in top form. She makes you believe that Ammaji believes what she did was for the right.
It's a fearsome thought that there are people so misguided in their pursuit to keep regressive traditions alive [heck, I'm even conflicted writing this because judging her makes me no less and her performance questions that judgement] and Naval makes this come to life with all shades balanced.
And the Winner is...
Revati as
Shubhangini for Margarita With A Straw!
The first acting award goes to a titan of a performer, it's Revati's first win for her first nomination.
Up Next: Five men hit the pinnacle of making you laugh and more...a returning favorite dolling out zing after zing, an star actor that stands toe to toe with the Bhai of Superstars, a veteran gem among an ensemble of gems, a globally recognized talent bearing the comedic brunts of a dysfunctional father-daughter duo and a patriarch with an edge heralding a wondrous comeback...the HIndie Award for Best Actor [Male] in A Supporting Role [Drama]
'Nuff Said
Aneesh Raikundalia
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