Dont Blacken Its Name

I happened to be running through the TV channels practising my remote control tricks.. when i happened to see a flash news about Amitabh Bachchan being a front-runner for the Best Actor Award for the movie Black... Ok.. i am no expert on acting... and i am not staking my claims to be one either.. but i consider myself to be a part of the viewing audience... admittedly a more discerning one perhaps... and this news came as a complete shock for many reasons..

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Reason 1:- Black is a remake of an English movie, and i am pretty certain that there is a rule somewhere - if there isnt there should be one - that remakes should not be considered for any award

Reason 2:- Mr. Bachchan is super personality.. and a much better actor than many actors in India.. but in Black.. c'mon it was hamming.. not acting.. It comes as no surprise that the Jury Chairman is one Saroja Devi who acted opposite one of the 'greatest' actors and arguably the greatest over actor 'Shivaji' Ganesan

Ok the truth is I have not watched every movie that has been released in India in the past year... and i am not going to say who acted better than Mr.Bachchan.. but i just think its not good for those independent filmmakers and actors who strive to keep the legacy of great directors like Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak and Aravindan, if the awards go to Bollywood (a horrible term) movies.. the awards and the prize money that come with it are , in most cases, the only motivation these fimmakers have.. their movies dont get the distribution the Hindi movies get... and its only through these awards that they can get some meaning to their pursuit to create moments of magic through cinema...

Cinema represents the culture of a country... As much as Bollywood represents India to the world.. how many Indians can really relate to the trash that is produced from the extremely fecund dream-factory that resides at Mumbai.. Of course, Black is an exception in most ways... but its not an original story.. the only thing original about the movie is the cinematography apart form the things that make it Bollywood worthy....

Last year Saif Ali... this year could be AB... oh hell.... to look at the positives at least getting it for Black is better than the one he was gifted by Rajiv Gandhi ( for Agnipath i think)... When will normality resume.. or was there ever any normality in the National Awards ?