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Awards season has kick-started and one film which can well find itself as a strong candidate for some of the major trophies coming its way, at least in the critical acclaim section, is Paan Singh Tomar. Though Irrfan Khan has made it quite clear that he isn’t too concerned about the Indian awards, he doesn’t deny that it’s omission from being India’s nomination for Oscars left a bad taste in his mouth. While it was a country wide though that Paan Singh Tomar, Kahaani and to an extent even Vicky Donor were three of the strongest candidates, it was Barfi! that made the cut.
“I would be lying if I say I wasn’t disappointed,” Irrfan says with a straight face, “In fact it took a long time for me to come to terms with. I was angry when I saw reports that the film which made it to the nominations had so many scenes that were copied from other sources. I felt like why were we wasting a solid chance when we could have gone ahead with so much else on the platter.”
“You are angry with the people who are not doing their job properly. You are angry about the system and rue the fact that some out there don’t have respect for their own job. So yes, all of that was bothering me. I was really angry and was wondering that why that film was chosen which had so much controversy to it already. Still, all said and done, I know that ‘Barfi!’ is emotionally engaging and Anurag Basu is a very interesting filmmaker,” he adds.
Today, Irrfan is happy about the fact that Paan Singh Tomar is amongst some of the best movies that have been included in CBSE’s value education handbook for showcasing determination and hard work.
“The best thing is that Paan Singh Tomar success showed how a film can stand on its own feet; I guess that’s the biggest discovery we had. It is a good take away so why not learn from that. It is better than having any argument about the omission because that would not have been productive,” smiles Irrfan before signing off.
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder
