IIFAs: Bad night in Bangkok

BOLLYWOOD AWARD CEREMONY IN THAILAND AMONG THE WORST IN EVENT’S HISTORY

THE IIFA Awards, which were held in Bangkok in Thailand last week, were arguably the worst-ever in the 19-year history of the international­ly renowned event.

Most of the major Bollywood stars were absent, the list of nominees could have been much better, there were some very questionable winners and the once innovative award cere­mony had nothing new to offer film fans. The tired hosts went through the same old routine.

An example of how much stand­ards have slipped was perfectly illus­trated by the winner of the prestigious Best Film prize, which was handed out to the decidedly average Tumhari Sulu. The low-budget film just about recovered its costs and received aver­age reviews when it was released last year, yet it was honoured ahead of the superb Secret Superstar and Hindi Medium, which were both critical and commercial blockbusters.

Late actress Sridevi was handed a Best Actress award for her perfor­mance in Mom and although she was one of Indian cinema’s greatest lead­ing ladies, it came across as a sympa­thy prize, which does her legacy a disservice. It was for a film that, truth be told, was largely rejected and in­curred heavy losses last year.

Irrfan Khan got Best Actor, but he wasn’t able to attend because of ill health. Other recipients included Me­her Vij, who won Best Supporting Ac­tress Female (Secret Superstar) and Nawazzuddin Siddiqui getting Best Supporting Actor for flop film Mom.

Amit V Masurkar received Best Story for Newton despite it being strikingly similar to 2001 Iranian film Secret Ballot. Nitesh Tiwari and Shreyas Jain won Best Screenplay for Bareilly Ki Barfi, despite that film borrowing heavily from French novel The Ingredients of Love.

Meanwhile, Kriti Sanon was handed a Style Icon of the Year award (yes, seriously). Arjun Kapoor was given a made-up award called Next IIFA Giveaway Winner – I honestly have no idea what that is for.

The technical awards were no bet­ter, with mega flop Jagga Jasoos get­ting Best Background Score, Arijit Singh winning Best Male Playback Singer for Hawayein (Jab Harry Met Sejal) and Meghna Mishra scooping the Best Female Playback Singer for Main Kaun Hoon (Secret Superstar). There was far better music than this released last year.

Perhaps the only interesting aspect was some live performances includ­ing from legendary actress Rekha, Varun Dhawan and Ranbir Kapoor, but even these routines of Bollywood actors miming to songs on stage are getting boring.

If the IIFA Awards want to remain relevant, they need to win back the confidence of A-lists stars who stay away (unless paid to perform) and they need to significantly up the quality of winners. The hosts need new ideas and the production has to move with the times.

This once great award ceremony now looks like an aging Bollywood hero who is desperately clinging on to fame for as long as possible.