Critique: Aamir and Awards

As many people know Aamir does not accept awards and does not attend award ceremonies except the Oscars, National awards and Gollapudi Srinivas National Award. Let’s take a look at the 1988 Filmfare awards.

If you watch the video you can tell Aamir was very happy and excited to receive the award. Everyone wants awards and recognition and Aamir is no different. He last attended the 1992 Filmfare awards and even performed “Ghungat Ki Aad Se” with Juhi Chawla.He has been nominated for the Best Actor so many times and did not receive an award till 1996. So did he deserve the Best Actor award all those years? Let’s look at the performances each year.

1988
Aamir – Qayamat se Qayamat Tak
Anil Kapoor – Tezaab (winner)
This was Aamir’s first movie and he did receive a Best Debut award. This was the first time this award was given. His performance was ok. Anil Kapoor was brilliant in Tezaab and definitely deserved the Best Actor award.

1989
Aamir – Raakh
Jackie Shroff – Parinda (winner)
I am sure not many have seen the movie Raakh. It’s a very slow movie and Aamir did an ok job. Jackie Shroff gave a very good performance and surely deserved that award.

1990
Aamir – Dil
Sunny Deol – Ghayal (winner)
Aamir gave a decent performance in a lover boy role but Sunny was brilliant and gave arguably the best performance of his life to win the Best Actor award.

1991
Aamir Khan – Dil Hai ki Maanta Nahin
Amitabh Bachchan – Hum (winner)
Anil Kapoor – Lamhe
Sanjay Dutt – Saajan

Amitabh did not deserver the award. Amitabh’s performance was just ok. Aamir was strictly ok in Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin. Anil Kapoor gave a very good performance especially as a 40 year old in Lamhe but the one who deserved the award that year was Sanjay for Saajan. Sanjay Dutt was brilliant in Saajan as a crippled poet. In fact he was very good in Sadak too for which he was not even nominated.

Amitabh came on the stage and said he would like to share the award with the youngsters Aamir Khan and Sanjay Dutt. Sanjay Dutt came on stage and accepted the award. Aamir was not present. Click the link below for filmfare awards where it says that Amitabh apologized to Anil Kapoor later for not inviting him.   Click Here

1992
Aamir Khan – Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar
Anil Kapoor – Beta (winner)
Aamir gave a very good performance in this and probably would have received the Best Actor award if there was no Beta that year. Anil Kapoor was excellent in the movie Beta in a very different role. If one looks at the last few emotional scenes (poison scene) in the movie they will realize that Anil was outstanding. Anil, Madhuri and Aruna Irani were all excellent and deserver awards for their performances.

1993
Aamir – Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke
Shah Rukh – Baazigar (winner)
There is no doubt here that SRK deserved this one. Aamir once again gave a good performance only to be overshadowed by Shah Rukh in Baazigar. Well Shah Rukh was also nominated for Best villain for Darr but it was given to Paresh Rawal for Sir. Shah Rukh gave a brilliant performance in Darr, arguably the best performance of his life and Aamir had declined to do Darr.

1994
Aamir Khan – Andaz Apna Apna
Nana Patekar – Krantiveer (winner)
Shah Rukh Khan – Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa
Aamir was excellent in Andaz Apna Apna but Nana had made a big impact with that role and the dialogues. When you have a comic role pitched against an intense emotional role the one in the intense role usually wins. SRK should have won for Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa instead though the critics already gave him an award the previous year for this movie before it released commercially. Shah Rukh was very good in the role of a loser, probably his most down to earth performance.

1995
Aamir – Akele Hum Akele Tum
Aamir – Rangeela
SRK – DDLJ

Aamir definitely deserved the award here for Akele Hum Akele Tum/Rangeela but people got carried away with DDLJ. His performances in Akele Hum Akele Tum (a scene-scene and dialogue-dialogue copy of the Oscar winner Kramer vs Kramer in which Dustin Hoffmann gave an Oscar winning performance) and Rangeela were both good, but he was exceptional in the emotional scenes in AHAT. This is his best performance to date. DDLJ received 10 filmfare awards and broke the then existing record of Deewar. It won Best picture, Best director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Dialogues and it surely did not deserve all of these awards but no one’s complaining about that.

Now the year in which DDLJ won all the awards there was another movie Droh Kaal, which had the best story and amazing performances by Ashish Vidyarthi and Mita Vashisht and they should have won the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively, yet both of whom did not win any popular awards.

In 1993 Shah Rukh Khan had given two of the best performances in Indian cinema (Baazigar and Darr). People were convinced that he was the best actor in Hindi cinema at that time. At that time he had a lot of male fans. Then came DDLJ a melodramatic movie with some melodramatic acting by Shah Rukh Khan. But the movie did have a lot of emotional and romantic scenes in it. It was a big hit and he hit the jackpot and got a lot of female fans too. Now as an actor you have to do different roles. In Darr he was an obsessive lover who will do anything to get his love whereas in DDLJ he was this ideal lover who would try to convince her parents but not elope. The emotional scenes in the movie are horrible and one can tell that he is acting and looks more like drama acting. SRK had more fans than Aamir at that time and they probably all voted for him.

So Aamir does not win an award one year when he deserved and he says filmfare awards are crap. Aamir said he will not attend award functions because they are given by film magazines and he said that they have an interest in giving award to someone they want. I think it is a case of sour grapes.

Infact Aamir himself said in an interview before the 1992 Filmfare awards that one should be happy even if they don’t receive an award as it is someone else from their fraternity who receives an award. Just watch the video at 2min 45 sec.

He even performed “Ghungat Ki Aad se” with Juhi Chawla. Just watch the video from 5min 21 sec.

He did receive a Best Actor award in 1996 for his over the top hamming in Raja Hindustani. He should have displayed a little patience and waited one more year. But do you think he deserved the Best Actor that year? Some of the other performances that year were Sunny in Ghatak and Chandrachur in Maachis. Even Salman acted very well in Khamoshi. They gave it to Aamir because it was the biggest hit that year. Infact Chandrachur should have received the Best Actor for his realistic performance in Maachis.

The year he did Sarfarosh, Sanjay Dutt was the winner for Vaastav. Who do you think deserved the award that year?

The problem with Aamir fans is they think their favorite actor has been discriminated which has no basis. He was nominated for the Best Actor award so many times. He was just unlucky (or he was not brilliant enough that particular year) that his performances were overshadowed by others. And the truth is Aamir was considered a chocolate boy romantic hero till the mid nineties and actors of that type don’t get that many awards. People thought he couldn’t pull off intense or difficult roles. He tried intense roles in movies like Baazi and Aatank Hi Aatank and Parampara which all tanked. The turning point for him was Rangeela. He worked on his acting skills and has improved as an actor a lot. After that he has given good performances in Sarfarosh, Ghulam, Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan, Earth – 1947 and Rang De Basanti.

Filmfare awards are being given since 1953. They always have been popular choice awards except for a few years back in the 80s when critics gave the main awards. When you have a popular choice awards they will not be perfect. Even when critics give them they won’t be perfect with the kind of critics we have in India. Shah Rukh got a critics award for his overacting in Mohabbatein.

Now Screen started their awards in 1994 which were awarded by a jury and were pretty. The jury was headed by Dilip Kumar. The next year the jury was headed by Vijay Anand (Dev Anand’s brother – you may remember watching him in a serial called Tehqeeqat) and the awards were really bad. Infact Shah Rukh received the Best Actor award for one of the most irritating performances in Indian Cinema – Raam Jaane.

You must have also noticed Amitabh Bachchan in the above you tube video clip. Well Amitabh did not win a Best Actor award for Deewar. He did not win a Best Supporting Actor award for Sholay and Sholay did not receive a Best Film award. He has been nominated 28 times till now for Best Actor. He had received only four filmfare awards for Best Actor including Hum till 1991. He had 18 nominations for Best Actor by then. But that did not stop Amitabh from coming to filmfare awards. Ramesh Sippy comes to filmfare awards every year though he did not win the Best Director award for Sholay.

There are a lot of movies and performances which deserved awards and appreciation and did not get them. Here’s some of them.

Anil Kapoor did not win the Best Actor for his brilliant performance in Virasat but Shah Rukh did for his melodramatic overacting in DTPH. Tabu did not win a Best Actress for Virasat but Madhuri did for Dil To Pagal Hai. Urmila did not win an award that same year for Judaai but Karishma won it for Dil To Pagal Hai.

If awards are given by public opinion they will be always be given by how big a hit the movie was. If it releases later in the year it has a greater chance of an award as people have very short memory. They are not going to go back and view all movies at once and then decide who should be the winner.

Did Aamir return the award that he received? So many actors and singers say that the awards are biased and sold. If that is the case then how come bad actors like Govinda and Chunkey Pandey have never received any awards. Shah Rukh did not receive Best Actor for movies like Guddu, O Darling Yeh Hai India or English Babu Desi Mem. He got awards for DDLJ, KKHH and DTPH which were the biggest hits of the year in which they released. Yes he did not deserve Best Actor awards for those years.

Aamir said in a recent interview that the only awards he will attend are the National Awards. There have been controversies with national awards that they are biased too.

It is ok if someone does not want to attend award functions. Even Ajay Devgan does not attend award functions. But to stop your clips being shown in case of other people like Best story, Best child artist is heights. Tell Filmfare that you don’t want to be nominated for Best Actor or director/film when you make the movie.

If he is not interested in the nominations why does he not tell Filmfare to stop nominating him. Lata Mangeshkar withdrew from nominations back in the seventies. Asha Bhonsle withdrew from nominations back in 78. They nominate him and he gets free press and publicity because he does not attend. If he does not win, he is vindicated saying that the awards are biased and if he wins someone else comes and accepts the award. What happens next? Do they give it to Aamir or throw it in the trash?