Filmfare Awards 2017- Predictions

Best Playback Singer (Female):

Kanika Kapoor – Da da dasse (Udta Punjab)
Jonita Gandhi – Break up song (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)
Neeti Mohan – Sau aasman (Baar Baar Dekho)
Neha Bhasin – Jag ghoomeya (Sultan)
Palak Mucchal – Kaun Tujhe (MS Dhoni: The Untold Story)
Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch – Kari kari (Pink)

Who Will Win: This line-up does not really comprise extraordinary songs- except for maybe ‘Da Da Dasse’- the nearly unsung champion in an already extraordinary soundtrack- and it is the generic nature of most of the nominees that gives them equal chance to grab it. 

That said, I can see Kanika Kapoor for the same song holding an edge here along with Neha Bhasin for the female version of ‘Jag Ghoomeya’ as well as Palak Muchchal for ‘Kaun Tujhe’. The award can go to either of them but do not still discount other contenders in the list.

Who Should Win: Kanika Kapoor, for her whip-cracking delivery laced with the kind of rugged oomph that they just don’t have in Punjabi songs these days. 

Best Playback Singer (Male):

Amit Mishra – Bulleya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)
Arijit Singh – Ae dil hai mushkil (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)
Arijit Singh – Channa mereya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)
Atif Aslam – Tere sang yara (Rustom)
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan – Jag ghoomeya (Sultan)

Who Will Win: This is a bigger fight with two singers pitted against each other, each nominated for chartbusters. Will it be newbie Amit Mishra for slamming the true rocker vocals the insanely famous ‘Bulleya’ which has conquered all the music charts? Or will Arijit Singh make it for either of the two equally popular songs from the same album? Let the jury decide that.

Who Should Win: While Mishra did prove himself as a solid upcoming talent, Singh is still more deserving, simply for conveying the poignant heartbreak of both the songs in the most elegant way possible. 

Best Lyrics:

Amitabh Bhattacharya – Channa mereya (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)
Gulzar – Aave re hitchki (Mirzya)
Gulzar – Mirzya (Mirzya)
Irshad Kamil – Jag ghoomeya (Sultan)
Kausar Munir – Love you zindagi (Dear Zindagi)
Late Shiv Kumar Batalvi – Ikk kudi (Udta Punjab)

Who Will Win: The contest is getting trickier by each category. The legendary Gulzar dominates the list with two absolutely smashing numbers that illustrates his ever-improving versatility and linguistic power- from the emotionally naked longing of ‘Aave Re Hitchki’ to the galloping thrill of love against all odds in ‘Mirzya’. But he has found an equally worthy contender this time in Amitabh Bhattacharya, whose spectacularly devastating ‘Channa Mereya’ became such a rage that impromptu nonsense lyricists tweaked its heart-breaking  lines- of separation and unrequited love- in favour of ditties for demonetisation. 

Who Should Win: Bhattacharya has been eyeing that black lady for all these years now and it is high time since they handed it over to him for what must be one of his finest lyrics. That said, it feels a bit unfair to snatch it away from the hands of the bespectacled behemoth in the crowd. 

Best Music Album:

Amaal Mallik, Badshah, Arko, Tanishk Bagchi, Benny Dayal and Nucleya– Kapoor & Sons
Amit Trivedi – Udta Punjab
Meet Bros, Amaal Mallik, Ankit Tiwari & Manj Musik – Baaghi
Pritam – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy – Mirzya
Vishal-Shekhar – Sultan

Who Will Win: If this jury follows the example of all those awards (!) ceremonies in the last few months, then consider this fight to be done and dusted. Pritam is taking it home for his widely acclaimed and loved ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ and we should let him take it, if only before his haters start finding out that some of it could also be plagiarized.

Who Should Win: Am I the only one who thinks that ‘Dangal’ was a more solid Pritam creation than ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’? Sure, ‘Bulleya’ and ‘Channa Mereya’ are guaranteed classics but what about some fun-filled but filler material like ‘The Breakup Song’ and ‘Cutiepie’? And in any case, while the beautiful ‘Mirzya’ will be too deep and sophisticated for the juries, when are they going to give Amit Trivedi an award? ‘Udta Punjab’- with its daring blend of scathing lyrics and Punjabi pop, bhangra and rap- deserves this easily. 

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female):

Kareena Kapoor Khan – Udta Punjab
Kirti Kulhari – Pink
Ratna Pathak Shah – Kapoor And Sons
Richa Chadda – Sarbjit
Shabana Azmi – Neerja

Who Will Win: All it took was one powerhouse and totally unexpected scene from the climax of ‘Neerja’ to leave all the mothers among the audience with giant lumps in their throats. Given the overall weak competition (though Kirti Kulhari still holds some edge, especially for her emotional outburst in the courtroom), this is Shabana Azmi’s award to lose.

Who Should Win: Kulhari was the best performer among the trio of ladies in ‘Pink’; her character, flawed around the edges yet determined to play it straight, lent the ensuing courtroom debate with its real throbbing heart of pain. But Azmi is of a different league altogether and even without the tear-jerking element, this was the performance of an affable, loving mother suitably devastated by tragedy. She deserves it wholly.

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male):

Diljit Dosanjh – Udta Punjab
Fawad Khan – Kapoor And Sons
Jim Sarbh – Neerja
Rajat Kapoor – Kapoor & Sons
Rajkummar Rao – Aligarh
Rishi Kapoor – Kapoor And Sons

Who Will Win: Wow, what a line-up! Jim Sarbh made the face of carnage all too real by playing the boisterously evil terrorist in ‘Neerja’, Fawad Khan played a dashing son with a hidden secret up his sleeve with underplayed charm, Rishi Kapoor and Rajat Kapoor played fathers, wizened and flawed respectively and Rajkummar Rao is spectacular in every film that he is in. And yet, even with all these contenders, the obvious choice would be Diljit Dosanjh as the naturally charismatic underdog cop Sartaj who turned into one of the most endearing male heroes of the year.

Who Should Win: As said, each of the actors is great but Dosanjh made us all realize the glaring lack of effortlessly charismatic cinematic Sardar avatars in our films. Sloppy, vulnerable yet armed with a winsome smile and eyes that gleam with sincerity, he is one of the brightest things about 2016.

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female):

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Sarbjit
Alia Bhatt – Dear Zindagi
Alia Bhatt – Udta Punjab
Anushka Sharma – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Sonam Kapoor – Neerja
Vidya Balan – Kahaani 2

Who Will Win: Are we all looking at a possibility of one of the youngest winners of this category? Bollywood’s lovechild Alia Bhatt is here pitted against ace actresses of all ages and doing different roles but the thing is that she may stand above them all with a glittering black lady in her young wrists. Even if they had not nominated her for her the indelibly spectacular anonymous role in ‘Udta Punjab’, she would have been certain for this prize for playing girly angst with true relish in ‘Dear Zindagi’. Still, Sonam Kapoor’s spirited portrayal of Neerja Bhanot is a slight worry to upset those chances. 

Who Should Win: It was admirable enough to see this hitherto shiny starlet go through the grill and disappear into the muddy, naturalistic essence of her unnamed damsel in distress in ‘Udta Punjab’ and to see her bring a surge of emotional pathos and unexpected hope into the film’s dire proceedings. As if that was not enough, she reinvented herself again and ended up playing a girl who had every reason to whine about her life and relationships. Take a bow, Alia. 

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male):

Aamir Khan – Dangal
Amitabh Bachchan – Pink
Ranbir Kapoor – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Salman Khan – Sultan
Shah Rukh Khan – Fan
Shahid Kapoor – Udta Punjab
Sushant Singh Rajput – MS Dhoni: The Untold Story

Who Will Win: Let’s not kid ourselves- Salman Khan is not going to win this category, ever. That leaves the room open to the two other Khans in the list. And to be frank, both Aamir and Shah Rukh did prove their best acting mettle in their respective roles. Aamir played the tough yet determined Mahavir Singh Phogat with both thrilling emotional fury and an authentically piled-up thick waist while Shah Rukh played both the tortured admired and the terrifying admirer with gamely relish to deliver a doubly effective powerhouse performance. Bravo.

That does not mean, however, that others don’t stand a chance. Ranbir Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor might have played somewhat similar roles before as well but their performances did win them raves. And even more than them, Sushant Singh Rajput, who got to play a real-life cricketing star in all his guts and glory, holds some chance himself (though I suspect that they might give away the Critic’s Choice Award to him as consolation). Above all, the evergreen and ever-dynamic Amitabh Bachchan towers over the rest of the younger crowd, with his performance as the bellowing and bipolar aging courtroom warrior being clearly the highlight of ‘Pink’. 

Who Should Win: A very tricky thing to decide. All three- Amitabh, Aamir and Shah Rukh- gave stellar performances and are equally deserving of the trophy. I am not writing off Sushant and Ranbir’s respective skills but they are both side-lined this time by the showier contenders around them. 

That said, while Aamir might hold a fresher edge, thanks to the recent release and acclaim of ‘Dangal’, it would not be far-fetched to say that the real attraction of the film would be the girls and not Aamir himself. Sure, his meticulous method is indeed being lauded but the entire film was not dependent on that one performance to drive it as a one-man show. So, his chances might be a bit slim, though if he does win it will be totally deserving. 

That leaves the contest possibly to the two acting giants- Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. Bachchan’s role was the catalyst in ‘Pink’- the performance that propels the film truly to new levels and this makes him really worth that honour. It is the performance of a true legend- committed, powerful and heroic.

And yet, I think that it is Shah Rukh Khan who should be feted for taking on a role that challenges his own boundaries of acting. It is not every day that a superstar with a mammoth ego decides to play in a film that would have him playing his ardent fan as well as his real inner demons out for the audience to judge. And lest we forget, ‘Fan’ was a purely one-man show- a thriller of obsession driven by two spectacular performances at the helm delivered by an actor who bared his solid histrionic bones for us to see. 

Best Director:

Abhishek Chaubey - Udta Punjab
Ali Abbas Zafar – Sultan
Karan Johar – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Nitesh Tiwari – Dangal
Ram Madhvani – Neerja
Shakun Batra – Kapoor & Sons

Who Will Win: The Best Director line-ups are getting even better and better with each year but it sort of hurts when they give away the award to the one who made the most popularly acclaimed film in the list. Don’t worry- that does not mean that Ali Abbas Zafar will win for ‘Sultan’.

The obvious chances lie with Nitesh Tiwari and Ram Madhvani. Their respective films have not only won big plaudits but they have also appealed to the masses and have worked wonders at the box office. And given how the juries have celebrated the newbie directors from time to time (Vikas Bahl and Sujoy Ghosh being recent examples), they both stand a hefty chance and deservingly so. 

Who Should Win: By the way, with that logic, Abhishek Chaubey could very well win the trophy as well. And why should he not? It takes a certain brash talent to make a film about an extremely serious topic so dramatic, darkly hilarious, enthralling and emotional all at the same time. Sure, you may give away the Best Film award to the most optimistic film in the bunch but Chaubey’s deep, incisive and probingly intelligent style deserves this award for sure. 

Best Film:

Dangal
Kapoor And Sons
Neerja
Pink
Sultan
Udta Punjab

Who Will Win: ‘Pink’ and ‘Neerja’ celebrated womanhood’s victory against terrors of all kind. ‘Dangal’ showed that sports film can be intelligent and entertaining unlike the predictable ‘Sultan’. And ‘Udta Punjab’ showed us all that you can make thrilling films on tricky subjects and get even the most hardened mainstream actors deliver their best. This will be the most difficult question to answer for the juries- for each of these films had something special to boast of.

Who Should Win: I can spend hours deliberating between any of the above mentioned contenders but there will always be ‘Dangal’ which deserves the single most important honour. This is not just because of Tiwari’s excellent direction, Aamir’s stunning performance or the great writing and storytelling that accompanies them together. But this is because this is a film we should celebrate- an intelligent and complex sports film that redefines the genre in every way- and a resoundingly inspiring film that will make all- including that black lady herself- smile their widest smiles.