The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India (not all Indian Cinema).[1] The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India.[2] The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times Group in 1954, the same year as the National Film Awards.[3] They were initially referred to as the "Clare Awards" or "The Clares" after Clare Mendonça, the editor of The Times of India and modelled after the Academy Awards.
A dual voting system was developed in 1956. Under this system, in contrast to the National Film Awards, which are decided by a panel appointed by the Indian Government, the Filmfare Awards are voted on by both the public and a committee of experts. The ceremony has been sponsored by various private organisations in the past as well as in present provisions. During several years in the 1990s, a live ceremony was broadcast to television audiences but was later discontinued due to unknown reasons.
Since 2001, a recorded and edited version of the awards ceremony was televised on SET a week or two after the ceremony has been held. Since 2018, the ceremony has been televised on Colors. Until 2023, the function was held in Mumbai except for year 2020 when the 65th Filmfare Awards event was held on 16 February 2020 at Sarusajai Stadium, Guwahati.[4]Until the mid-1990s, Filmfare Awards were the preeminent and most-recognised awards in Bollywood until several other awards sprouted up in Mumbai. This has resulted in poor viewership since the 2000s.[1][2][3][5]
In addition to the flagship event, Filmfare also has variants for other Indian film industries, such as Filmfare Awards South for South Indian cinema; Filmfare Marathi Awards for Marathi cinema;[6] Filmfare Awards Bangla for Bengali cinema, Assamese cinema, and Odia cinema; Filmfare Awards Punjabi for Punjabi cinema; Filmfare OTT Awards for over-the-top films, Filmfare Short Film Awards for short films; and Filmfare Style & Glamour Awards.
The Filmfare awards were introduced in 1954. The Clares was the original name of the award ceremony, named after The Times of India critic Clare Mendonca. Readers of Filmfare were polled to decide the winners, and over 20,000 readers spread throughout India participated in the polls; trophies were given to winners of the popular vote. In the first awards function, held on 21 March 1954 at the Metro Theatre of Mumbai, only five awards were presented: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Music Director.
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Do Bigha Zameen was the first movie to win the award for Best Film. The first winners for the other four categories were: Bimal Roy for his direction of Do Bigha Zameen, Dilip Kumar for his performance in Daag, Meena Kumari for her performance in Baiju Bawra, and Naushad Ali for his music in Baiju Bawra. The Filmfare Awards also introduced the Short Film Category in 2017, with Vidya Balan and Gauri Shinde on the jury.[7] The People's Choice Award for Best Short Film was presented to Khamakha. Short films like Chutney, Matitali Kusti and Taandav won awards as well.[8]
Hollywood star Gregory Peck was invited to be the guest of honour at the first ever awards on 21 March 1954 at the Metro theatre, Mumbai but could not make it to the function since his flight from Colombo got delayed. However, Peck did attend the banquet that followed the award night at Wellington Club (Gymkhana), Mumbai.[9][10]
The winners for the year 1985 were announced in 1986 and the event was scheduled to be held at the Brabourne Stadium in December 1986. The Bombay Film Industry as it was known then, went on strike in 1986 because of its many contentious issues with the Government of Maharashtra. As a result, the ceremony was pushed to the next year. The winners of 1985 were awarded on 28 January 1987. For security reasons, the Filmfare was not awarded for 1986 and 1987.[11]
The Red Carpet is a segment that takes place before the beginning of the actual ceremony. This is when actors, actresses, producers, directors, singers, composers, and others that have contributed to Indian cinema are introduced.[12] Hosts question the celebrities about upcoming performances and who they think deserves to take the Black Lady home.[13]
The 2013 Filmfare awards took place in Mumbai at the Yash Raj Studios in Andheri. A special press conference was held just for its announcement and this took place at the Suburban hotel in Mumbai as well. The theme that year was a hundred years in the future. The reason for the theme to be held that year was because it was meant to be continuous from the previous year's theme, where the fraternity celebrated the completion of a hundred years in Indian cinema at the box office.[14]
The statuette, depicting a woman whose arms are upraised in a dance number with her fingers touching, is commonly referred to as "The Black Lady" (or "The Lady in Black"). Originally designed by N.G. Pansare under the supervision of Times of India's art director Walter Langhammer, it is generally made of bronze, its height is 46.5 cm and it weighs around 5 kg.[15] To celebrate the 25th year of the awards, the statues were made in silver and to celebrate the 50th year the statues were made in gold.[16] The Filmfare trophy has been manufactured by The Award Gallery since 2000.[17]
Until 2012, there had only been a few changes made to the trophy. But as of 2014, a huge change was made to give the trophy a 3-D look.[18] There were two reasons given for this change. First, that the organisers believe that it was necessary to match the many advances in technology in today's world, which will advance a lot more in the coming years as well. This was also an attempt to match the theme of the 2013 set of awards at Filmfare in Mumbai: a hundred years leap into the future.[14]
In 2020, Filmfare started Filmfare OTT Awards for the best in web series.[19]
The Filmfare is equivalent to the Oscars for India.
