The stage is set for 59th Filmfare Awards

The 59th annual Filmfare Awards, also known as the ‘Bollywood Oscars’, are all set to take place in Mumbai on January 24. With actors Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor hosting the show, expectations are high and so is the pressure on them as their predecessors Shahrukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan have set the bar high in the humour department in previous shows.

“I will leave the humour to my co-anchor Ranbir Kapoor because he is a boy. But yes, there is huge pressure. Yeah, it’s scary and exciting, but if one does not make an effort, then why are we here?” said Chopra in a recent interview.

As far as the jury selection is concerned, the nominees list has spurred some controversy. According to ibnlive.in.com, while Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela has bagged nominations in almost all the categories due to its popularity, Ristesh Batra’s The Lunchbox was only given one nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Surprisingly, actors Sonam Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor have both been included in the nominations for Best Actress.

Here is a list of nominees for some of the popular categories:



BEST FILM

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Chennai Express

Goliyon Ki Raseela Ram-Leela

Raanjhanaa

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

BEST DIRECTOR

Aanand L Rai — Raanjhanaa

Abhishek Kapoor — Kai Po Che

Ayan Mukerji — Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra — Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Rohit Shetty — Chennai Express

Sanjay Leela Bhansali — Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (MALE)

Dhanush — Raanjhanaa

Farhan Akhtar — Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Hrithik Roshan — Krrish 3

Ranbir Kapoor — Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Ranveer Singh — Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela

Shahrukh Khan — Chennai Express 

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (FEMALE)

Deepika Padukone — Chennai Express


Deepika Padukone — Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela

Parineeti Chopra — Shuddh Desi Romance

Shraddha Kapoor — Aashiqui 2

Sonakshi Sinha — Lootera

Sonam Kapoor — Raanjhanaa

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (MALE)

Aditya Roy Kapur — Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Anupam Kher — Special 26

Nawazuddin Siddiqui — The Lunchbox

Pankaj Kapur — Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola

Rajkumar Rao — Kai Po Che

Vivek Oberoi — Krrish 3 

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (FEMALE)

Divya Dutta — Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Kalki Koechlin — Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Konkona Sen Sharma — Ek Thi Daayan

Supriya Pathak Kapur — Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela

Swara Bhaskar — Raanjhanaa

BEST MUSIC

Amit Trivedi — Lootera

Ankit Tiwari, Mithoon and Jeet Ganguly — Aashiqui 2

AR Rahman — Raanjhanaa

Pritam — Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Sanjay Leela Bhansali — Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela

Vishal-Shekhar — Chennai Express

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2014.