Fifty third national film awards were to be
announced on the 12th of May which has been
stayed by the Delhi High court. This comes
in wake of a petition filed by a jury member
Shyamali Bannerjee in the award panel who
claimed favoritism in the selection of films.
Tamil film Anniyan and Hindi film Black were
said to be winning awards in special effects
and best film category respectively.
But according to Ms Bannerjee these films were not deemed
fit in the preliminary round itself.
As regards Black, she alleges that the story of the film
is based on an English film ‘the miracle of worker’
and as per the rules of the national film awards, films
that have their source of inspiration from other languages
cannot be conferred with awards. Justice Kailash Gambhir
who is conducting the enquiry on this petition has issued
orders that the national awards for 2005 cannot be declared
without court approval and has also directed the Ministry
and the Directorate of Film Festivals to produce their
reply in court on or before July 26th.