And the winner is...

This is my I-told-you-so post, the one where I get to gloat about how accurate my predictions were. I'm discussing the filmfare awards, about which I had made my predictions at the end of last year. Permit me this moment of self-congratulation: rarely have I been this accurate. Here's how I fared:

Best Picture
My prediction: Rang De Basanti
Winner: Rang De Basanti

Best Director
My prediction: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Winner: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Best Actor
My prediction: Hrithik Roshan or Sanjay Dutt
Winner: Hrithik Roshan

Best Actress
My prediction: Kajol
Winner: Kajol

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
My prediction: Abhishek Bachchan or Siddharth
Winner: Abhishek Bachchan

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
My prediction: Konkona Sensharma
Winner: Konkona Sensharma

Best Actor/Actress in a Villainous Role
My prediction: Saif Ali Khan
Winner: Saif Ali Khan

Best Actor in a Comic Role
My prediction: Arshad Warsi
Winner: Arshad Warsi

If you count the toss-ups as correct predictions, I scored 100%. Even if you don't, that's 75%. Not bad, eh?

This was also a safe year to make Oscar predictions in most of the acting categories and in the directing category, but I hadn't watched all the contenders by the time the ceremony came around, so I didn't.

I did watch, and was extremely impressed by Helen Mirren in The Queen. I've been quite fond of her ever since I saw her in Calendar Girls (another movie that cannot be anything but British) and Gosford Park, and this was quite a welcome event. As for Kate Winslet, whom I loved in Little Children, she's already been nominated a handful of times at a very young age, and will continue to get nominated. I'm fairly certain she'll win herself a statuette before she's 40. And I'm sure I'll be watching and cheering.

My happiest moment, of course, was when Scorsese won. They say the winners' names are kept secret until the envelope is opened, but somehow, it seems to me quite unlikely that they brought Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas up on stage to give away the award if there was any chance that anyone other than Marty might be the winner. I'm not sure if he was the most deserving winner this year, but it's not a bad movie to pick. Besides, if they could award Judi Dench for Shakespeare in Love in order to make up for slighting Mrs. Brown the preceding year, then the Academy has a lot more to atone for when it comes to Martin Scorsese. Anyway, I was pretty thrilled when he won - I was rolling around on the floor and making animal noises when he came up on stage.

But Best Picture? You gotta be kidding me!

Filmfare Awards (2006): My predictions

The Filmfare awards have long been the barometer of public opinion on the year's Hindi movies. Public opinion, mind you, not necessarily quality. A knockout performance in a little known movie stands no chance against SRK in the latest tearjerker about some rich guy named Rahul and his love life, as far as the Filmfare awards are concerned. This simplifies things when it comes to making predictions about the big winners, since there is often just one, maybe two blockbusters in any given year. This year, though, is different. There have been so many superhits that a number of people stand a chance. So predicting the winners this time is gonna be more interesting. For what it's worth, here are my picks:

Best Actor: Nominees will almost certainly include Hrithik Roshan (Krrish, Dhoom 2), Aamir Khan (Rang De Basanti, Fanaa) and Sanjay Dutt (Lage Raho Munnabhai). SRK (KANK, Don) and Amitabh Bachchan (Baabul) are likely to make it to the list as well. Shreyas Talpade probably deserves a nom for Dor, but I don't know how many people saw that movie for him to make it. As for the winner, I think it's a toss-up between Hrithik and Sanjay - Hrithik is more deserving of the two, but Sanjay might win.

Best Actress: A very weak category this year. Nominees will definitely include Kajol (Fanaa). Other possibilities are Priyanka Chopra (for something or the other - she's everywhere these days), Ayesha Takia (Dor), Kareena Kapoor (Omkara), Aishwarya Rai (Umrao Jaan, Dhoom 2) and Rani Mukherjee (KANK). The statuette will go to Kajol - Kajol's always been a Filmfare favourite, people love a big comeback, and she was clearly the best reason to watch Fanaa.

Best Supporting Actor: Abhishek will probably get nominated for KANK, Amitabh might get one as well (for the same movie), Siddharth (RDB) will make it to the shortlist for sure. Am not sure who else, actually. My guess is, either Abhishek or Siddharth will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Weak category. So weak, I don't really care who gets nominated or wins. But for what it's worth, I think it will be Konkona Sensharma for Omkara. Other nominees will probably be Rekha, Preity Zinta etc.

Best Actor in a Villainous Role: Saif Ali Khan will win this one at a canter for Omkara. Anyone else will probably come a distant second.

Best Actor in a Comic Role: Arshad Warsi for Lage Raho. It's a solid performance, among the better comic turns this year, and he's gathered so much goodwill with his last few screen appearances that they simply can't not give it to him this time.

Best Music: A. R. Rehman for RDB seems the most likely choice. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy will get nominated for Don and KANK.

Best Director: Nominees will include Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (RDB), Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai) and Vishal Bharadwaj (Omkara). I'm not sure I care about the rest. Rakeysh will probably win - RDB was good, and more people saw it.

Best Picture: RDB will win, I think. Other nominees will include Lage Raho Munnabhai and Fanaa.

Note: This is still a work in progress. I might change my picks anytime until the awards night comes around.