The Sempiternal Hindi-Film Awards 2009!

At the risk of sounding appallingly clichéd, let me remark how, before we quite know it, we’re a whole month into the New Year. I haven’t had the time to post anything after my quintessential end-of-the-year post, partly because of work but mostly because I ended up with a fracture in my foot and couldn’t spend too much time at my desk. It feels healed now but I’ve got to keep the cast on till the end of the month.
My new year’s gotten off to a sensational start. Ok, well maybe not sensational as such, but a pretty good start nonetheless. To start with, I won an award at work – Best Admissions Editor for December 2009 – and received a fancy certificate and a 500 rupee Shoppers Stop voucher. Unfortunately, there’s no Shoppers Stop here in Ahmedabad so I’ll spend the voucher at Crossword instead. I do love books, but I still wish I could have gone to a shoppers stop and bought a nice new top or something. Ah well…it’s valid for a year, maybe they’ll decide to open here before I spend it! Yes, I’m quite the optimist these days!
The other super thing about 2010 is – nah, that’s a secret I prefer not to write about. But I am so so SO happy!
Moving on to the ‘point’ of this post, welcome to my very own virtual awards ceremony for Hindi films of 2009. Obviously, I haven’t watched ALL the films of the year so I can’t claim to be completely unbiased, but hey, it’s my blog so I do what I want! Who wants to wait for the likes of Filmfare and Stardust?
So, I’ll begin with the ‘smaller’ (I don’t know if that’s the right word) categories:

The Sempiternal Award for Best Costumes goes to

Rocky S for New York

Ok, so maybe this is unexpected, but I honestly LOVED the styling in this movie. I think every character’s look and outfits suited them perfectly, right from Maya’s pretty skirts to Sam's and Omar's casual looks, costumes were perfectly in tune with the characters and the different phases of their lives portrayed in the story. I personally love Katrina’s gorgeous skirt and boots look in the Hai Junoon song.



The next award, Best Background Score goes to

3 Idiots

Best Dialogue goes to

Kaminey

I’m not sure of the exact words but I love that line in the starting which goes something like ‘ye life badi kutti hai, aur log kaminey… ‘

Coming to the last award in the category, Best Story,

Delhi 6

Yes, I know a lot of people will not agree with me here considering the movie was such a dud, but I really did like the story; it’s so meaningful if only you read between the lines of the whole ‘kaala bandar’ aspect.

Moving on to musical awards, the Sempiternal Award for Best Playback, female, goes to

Kavita Seth for Iktara from Wake Up Sid

Her rendition is soulful, spellbinding, and indescribably beautiful.

Best playback, male, goes – undoubtedly – to

Atif Aslam for Tu Jaane Na from Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani

For Best Lyrics, I had a real hard time deciding between tu jaane na, iktara, tu ne jo na kaha, and ali maulta, and ultimately, I decided to have two winners:

Javed Akhtar for iktara and Prasoon Joshi for ali maula from Kurbaan.

And finally, Best Music Director goes to

Pritam for Love Aaj Kal as well as Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani

because they are two films whose songs I can listen to over and over again and not get the slightest bit bored. My message to Mr. Pritam: I just wish you wouldn’t lift others’ tunes like you are so infamous for doing; you’re pretty creative on your own too.

Now coming to the ‘big’ awards, the Best Film goes to – and no surprises here –

3 idiots

It’s a complete entertainer, albeit a slightly melodramatic one, but I –and the majority of people out there - definitely LIKE! In fact, I watched it twice in the theater and didn’t even care about the expensive tickets! :D t was totally worth it.



Best Director goes to. . .

dhan te nan… VIshal Bhardwaj for Kaminey of course!

I really think this flick is in a league of its own, and the direction is very precise and up-to-the mark. And no, I am not even letting my bias for the lead actor influence this decision. :P

Best Supporting Actor, female, goes to

Mahi Gill for Dev D

I’m not sure if this was a supporting role, but I couldn’t think of anyone else to give this to, so she it is!

Best Supporting Actor, male, goes to

Chandan Roy Sanyal for playing Mikhail in Kaminey

Honestly, the movie wouldn’t have been half as fun without him.

And now, before going on to the last two awards, I think 2 films need a special mention:

First of all, Jail by Madhur Bhanderkar. I think it was a great attempt at a story but it’s just MB’s slightly predictable story-telling that prevented it from being a hit.
And of course, Paa. I am so sure most of the actual award ceremonies are going to give the best actor award to Amitabh Bachchan and he definitely deserves it, but I thought that he has so many awards already and we all know he’s fabulous so why not give someone else a chance…

Right, so Best Actor, female goes to…
again, dhan te naan… Priyanka Chopra for her spectacular Sweetie act in Kaminey
Pure perfection, I say.



And now, my favorite award, Best Actor…

If you know me, then you can probably predict very easily who this goes to because you’ll think I’m biased, but people, he deserves it. With a challenging double role executed with precision like that, he really does deserve it. (It’s just a bonus that he’s so incredibly adorable). - Shahid Kapur for his Guddu and Charlie acts.

Fo fweet, I fay. :D I love you, Shahid, I really do!



So there you are, the First Annual Sempiternal Film Awards, courtesy yours truly. But before signing off, I’d like to mention the other contender who gave tough competition to Shahid for the last category: Ranbir in Wake up Sid. His was such a natural and flawless performance that I feel he may just bag the award at some of the functions, but for me, Shahid is the winner through and through. Yes, ye awards bhi kaminey, you know. :P