Blue Notebook Results | 2014 Thanks 2013

Its magical how cinema works. Like an impossible jigsaw puzzle which somehow fits in to amazement of audience. The creator smiles and thanks the Lord on the seventh heaven. Cinema is probably one of the most complicated puzzle. The outcome looks simple but the process demands blood and dedication in addition to talent to back with.

Last year I said - New Wave/Parallel/Alternate Cinema is no more different from mainstream cinema. Its part and parcel… no rather focal center of Indian Cinema now. When 2013 will take over the reins, it will have herculean tasks to accomplish. Well, I was right. Year 2013 had some tough time to deal with. It did well. It didn’t raised the bar but didn’t let it fall either. Probably there was a silver lining as well – small films doing well.

Let us start with first set of awards.

Living in an era and bringing it alive on screen are two different things. Art Direction is the craft to make it possible. From fine details like kind of shaving blade used to larger artifacts, everything speaks about the time and era. The trick is not only to be accurate but to be convincing as well. It’s something that can easily go wrong but tough to appreciate. The unsung heroes of Cinema. The award for Best Art Direction goes to  Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

While Art Director makes think relevant in all dimensions, x,y,z and time – Editing involves an equally daunting task. What exactly an editor does? Clips cut and add? In layman language, it’s as complicated as selecting equal sized pebbles on shore of an ocean.  You have tools but if you don’t have an eye for perfection, no video editing tool can help you. In 2013, this trick was nailed by team of Madras Café. Kudos.

Best Art Direction –  Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Best Editing – Madras Café

Indian films have always been about music. Musical dramas have been our forte. A Russian singing ‘awaara hoon’ or an Uzbeik dancing on ‘disco dancer’ simply elaborate the global reach of Indian Music. However, over last few years the focus have shifted. This year has been a very average year. Still few albums made their mark. Like the winner of this category.  The award for Best Music goes to  Aashiqui 2. Frankly, it had no contest. Outright winner with 37.5 percent votes.

Few years back it was incomprehensible that we will deal with topics like the ones we managed this year. From adaptations to obscure, Hindi films toyed with multiple ideas and worked them out with some finesse. The winner of the award in this segment was a slice from past. While Tamil cinema has done some incredible work, Hindi cinema remained largely aloof. Yes, we are talking about the Best Story award winner Madras Café which successfully handled a complicated and sensitive talking to walk past the next best story – Fukrey – with lead of seven percent.

Best Music – Aashiqui 2

Best Story – Madras Café

The boundaries are becoming irrelevant. Films which were earlier geographically localized are now becoming global phenomenon. Success of Regional and Foreign Films attest that. This year there is a curious tie for Best Film In Regional Language between two very well made and deserving films - Duniyadari (Marathi) and Lucia (Kannada). On the other hand we had a clear dominating winner in Best Film In Foreign Language category – sci-fi philosophical adventure Gravity (USA).

Best Film In Regional Language – Duniyadari (Marathi) and Lucia (Kannada)

Best Film In Foreign Language –  Gravity (USA)

Now let’s talk about the most outstanding performances on screen. Last year Irrfan Khan won it for Paan Singh Tomar. This year, I don’t know if its co-incidence, the award for Best Actor goes to extremely talented Farhan Akhtar (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag) for capturing the imagination of Indian audience with metamorphosis and soulful performance. This has definitely opened the doors for better sports films in this country.

Among actresses, all nominations had something about the role they played and there was No Vidya Balan this year. And there was a tie. The Best Actress most deservingly goes to Divya Dutta  (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag), Nimrat Kaur (The Lunchbox) and Chitrangada Singh (Inkaar). Kudos. The tie says it all. Brilliant contest.

Best Actor – Farhan Akhtar (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)

Best Actress – Divya Dutta  (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag), Nimrat Kaur (The Lunchbox) and Chitrangada Singh (Inkaar)

The director who got our attention and the prized recognition of Best Director did something unusual. He redefined film making with a small film that made everyone smile. He used a motif so visible that it was literally non-consequential and weaved the story around a rare co-incidence. The Lunchbox brought a sense of Relevance in our lives. Thanks and congratulations Ritesh Batra. Way to go man. Rakesh Omprakash was a close runner up losing by a margin of less than 2 percent.

The Best Film will bring some reaction. Even we didn’t expect this. Apparently as a package film was a complete delight. It was not philosophical on a higher level but had some moments which made us thoughtful. Some moments were brilliantly captured. Critics would argue but audience has made their choice.  Its Raanjhanaa.

Best Director – Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox)

Best Film – Raanjhanaa

With that we would like to thank you for all your votes and appreciation. It means a lot to us. I hope you like this entire exercise.

The year 2013 was a good year, hopefully 2014 will be even better. We will come back with Blue Notebook again in 2015.