Industry bigwigs are a tad disappointed over the solitary award in the 70th National Awards since they were expecting awards for a couple of other crafts. “We are very happy about ‘Karthikeya 2’ bagging the best film award but we wished for more,” says a director. There were some films like ‘Major’ which focused on the life of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was martyred in action in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. “It was a biopic and a story of valour, grit, and sacrifice and could have won awards in one or two categories. Adivi Sesh reprised the role and put in a riveting performance. The heart-wrenching story was a commercial winner and won loads of accolades too,’ adds the director.
He also cites the story of another Telugu film ‘Sita Ramam’ which had an actor like Dulquer Salmaan playing a lover boy and also has a dedicated soldier in Jammu and Kashmir. He sacrifices his life for a colleague and a Pakistani girl (Rashmika) comes searching for his lover Sita in India. “It had a tinge of patriotism and love and it also had one or two chances in other categories since it was a path-breaking film from Telugu and not the usual commercial movie,” he adds. ‘There are over 15-20 categories and these two films could have won a few of them,” he reasons.
Another producer says, “Telugu filmmakers have to show more interest in national awards and send more of their films. There were 30-odd submissions over. 120-odd films made every year which is quite unfortunate,’ he says and adds, “Probably, few Telugu makers know that they are dishing out inferior movies and can’t compete with movies from Malayalam and Kannada. This attitude has to change, he adds.
He also claims that few jury members were reluctant to watch Telugu films since there were crash commercial movies. ‘Jury members should avoid being prejudiced and should watch more Telugu films. Young filmmakers are coming up with new-age themes and breaking potboiler myths with socio-fantasies and patriotic themes,” he concludes.
Talking about Telugu filmmakers’ disinterest in awards, he says, “I do admit that in the past, Telugu audiences didn’t rush to watch a film that bagged a national award. Now, things have changed and digital platforms would lap up any film which won any kind of national honours. So, Telugu producers should make more submissions for coveted awards and sell their films for OTTS,’ he concludes.
