Dec 04, 2024
Dec 04, 2024
This year (2020) 65th Amazon- Filmfare Awards Ceremony is to be conducted for the first time in Guwahati – Assam on 15th February.
I think I started reading Filmfare after the magnificent entry of Hindi films in Chennai with the historic run of Rajesh Khanna-Sharmila Tagore starrer ‘Aradhana’ in Little Anand. Till that time, though familiar with some of the names of the popular Hindi film makers and stars like Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Madhubala, Vyjayanthimala, Md. Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Shankar Jaikishen etc., I was not much interested in the stars or their interviews and other films being made.
‘Aradhana’ and the movies followed interested me mainly because of songs; it gradually initiated me to read about the upcoming movies and interviews of the stars and to know more about the popular Filmfare Awards. I started posting letters to their Mails column. Surprisingly, my first letter appeared in Filmfare in 1974, criticizing their selection of Awards for 1973 Tamizh movies. I have written ‘if you wanted to give the award for Sivaji Ganesan for ‘Gauravam’ you should have renamed it as ‘Award for the Best Overactor’ and also criticizing their choice of Jayalalithaa for ‘Sooryakandhi’ instead of ‘Arangetram’ Prameela. I remember my ardent Sivaji Ganesan fan friend fought with me for my comments.
Later, I have posted several letters to Filmafare and surprisingly my pungent criticism of MGR and Shabhana Azmi won Best Letter prizes for me in the later years.
The fortnightly Filmfare turned monthly for some years and again fortnightly and presently turned to monthly. In between the magazine was unceremoniously kept closed for a year or two if my memory is correct. However, reading the magazine had become a practice for me during all these years.
The January 2020 issue of Filmfare carried my letter as a Second Prize winner.
Here I have presented the various covers of Filmfare from time it was started (March 1953) to Feb 2020 to just contemplate over the ever changing design and lettering on the cover.
Some lesser known facts about the popular and prestigious Filmfare Awards
15-Feb-2020
More by : G Swaminathan