'Some time back, music was just noise.' 'Producers wrongly think item songs sell better.' 'Audiences are intelligent, they accept whatever you give, but that doesn't mean you can fool them.'
Bengali film Antaheen by director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury was chosen as the best film while Tamil filmmaker Bala won the honour of best director for his film Naan Kadavul at the 56th National Film Awards announced in New Delhi on Saturday.
Here's what your favourite Bollywood celebrities are tweeting.
'It's a tremendous accomplishment to have a father like Amitabh Bachchan and still be so sorted, to not taste the kind of success that he should have and yet be so balanced.'
'I'm very, very happy.' Winners react after the 64th National awards announcement.
Chidananda S Naik's Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know... won the first prize and Mansi Maheshwari's animation film Bunnyhood won the third prize in the La Cinef competition in Cannes.
At 8,700 screens, India, the world's largest film producing country, has just six screens for every million of its people, compared to 125 in the US and 30 in China. With Sitaare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan hopes to expand the market for Indian cinema.
After comedies like Bhool Chuk Maaf and Stree, National Award-winning actor Rajkummar Rao tries hard core action in the gangster film, Maalik.
'The way Helen ma'am grooves, she's so seductive.'
The bond between Bollywood's siblings is there for all to see. While some may not not worked together, they promote and support each other just as strongly.
'Unfortunately, we live in a 'Mainstream Bollywood' bubble, where we cannot look beyond films that we ourselves find entertaining.'
Check out the winners.
'Of all artists who openly support the current political dispensation, she is far and away the finest,' argues Sreehari Nair. 'With the exception of perhaps Tabu, no Indian actress has done more to extend the range of the feminine mystique in Hindi cinema.'
'The way the anticipation is built up for Gabbar Singh's introduction scene with sound, image and details of his personality, like the combat boots he wears.' 'The camera comes so close -- not a tele lens shot, but a wide-angle close-up -- that you can almost smell Gabbar's breath.'
'We should focus on creating cinema which is entertaining, gives us solace, some message, reduces our tension and makes us think positively.'
'When India opened its doors to the world, moving away from an agrarian to a market economy, everything, whether life or love, was commodified.'
Are the National Awards are bending over backwards trying to celebrate popular cinema, simply in order to gain more relevance and eyeballs, asks Raja Sen.
Though Zanjeer is credited as Amitabh's breakthrough film, it didn't immediately enthrone him. Rajesh Khanna countered with a huge hit in Daag that year. But Deewar upended audience's cinematic taste and filmland hierarchies at the very start of 1975. Bachchan emerged as a one man industry, the angry young man who could regulate the thermostat of the entire film industry, recalls Dinesh Raheja.
'Naseer does not have the sense of humour that Om Puri has. 'Also Om has a great deal of compassion as a human being. Naseer was too focused on his own self.' A fascinating excerpt from Sangeeta Datta's book, Shyam Benegal.
Which of the 28 films in contention gets your vote?
Meet the dreamers of Bollywood, who come together for Chidiya.
Bandyopadhyay, eminent playwright and director, said in a statement that he is returning the award conferred on him earlier this year by the Paschimbanga Natya Akademi and the Rs 30,000 monetary grant.
This is the magic of Sircar's filmmaking -- National Award winners, many of them -- that makes every new work of his an eagerly-awaited affair.
June's OTT line-up looks entertaining. There's a lot coming up in theatres this month too.
Allu Arjun is the first Telugu actor to receive a National Award for Best Actor.
'Bappi Lahiri was looking for a break so he and his father would meet me.' 'I told Director Bhisham Kohli about this promising young boy from Kolkata, and Bappi came over with his harmonium.' 'Bappi played this composition and Bhisham liked it immediately.' 'As we were discussing, I said I would give the words, and that's how I wrote this song.'
Check out the films that bagged the National Award.
In the last 11 years, India and the world witnessed what he stood for, what he promised and did not deliver, and what he actually stood for and practised without fearing how history would judge him. Modi's tenure has been punctuated with headline-grabbing decisions, symbolic gestures, and stage-managed moments that continue to define his leadership and India's politics, points out Ramesh Menon.
Bollywood makes way for regional cinema at the 65th National Awards.
It was a beautiful Monday for many film folk, as they were conferred with Padma Awards at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Droupadi Murmu.
Because of Mukesh's much-hailed association with Raj Kapoor, it is often overlooked that the singer has also scored hits with almost all major heroes. On Mukesh's 102nd birth anniversary on July 22, Dinesh Raheja recalls some of his classic songs.
'It's also the media and the audience.' 'The audiences want to watch what the media is putting about certain star kids.'The industry feels since the audience is interested, let's make a movie with them.' 'So I think it's a circle.
SRK and Aamir Khan lose out to Prakash Raj, among others.
'The CBI did a wonderful job of tracking down the killers, but at the end of the day, all the hard work went for a toss.' 'If we had caught them alive, the operation would have been successful completely.'
Shahid, 34, however, lost the Best Actor trophy to Kannada actor Sanchari Vijay.
'Fauji jo hain, woh desh sambhalta hain, border sambhalta hain, hum shehar sambhalte hain (Soldiers protect the country, the border, we protect the city).'
A look at what happened at the at the 57th National Awards
'The National Award is our nation's highest recognition, being recognised at the President's hand is our privilege, our honour and our dream.' 'The nation's sentiment got left out in the choices that were made yesterday...'
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