Comments ON NATIONAL AWARDS FOR THE YEAR 2008

FILMS DECLARED IN Jan. 2010

FALL IS COMPLETE NOW

Results of this year's national awards for films, to say the least are astonishing. Lobbying or pulling strings for getting a national award has been there for quite some years but at least it had some semblance and saving graces; which had kept them at a higher level than the other film awards in India. The results this year now confirm that the fall is complete for National awards too. At least the cineastes and lovers of meaningful cinema will no longer feel satisfied when the mediocrity and favoritism takes toll of the merits.

Names and films for individual award winners may be debatable. But can anyone imagine that an ordinary film ( Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye), which did not even reach or seen by the masses can be a winner in the category of "Most Popular Film" as a mass entertainer?

(The above letter was published in The Hindsutan Times and “DNA” Mumbai in Jan. 2010)