I am obviously missing something here. Or am I even more out of sync with the world than I thought I was? I have been seeing reports in the press lamenting the fact that Tollywood (which is responsible for a large portion of the Indian Film industry) has been ignored at the National Awards arena.

Suggestions like Tollywood should at least have been given a couple of awards befitting its status (as the second biggest producers of movies after Bollywood) made me cringe at first and then made me laugh. Seems to me that like in so many processes ‘merit’ has made way for lopsided reservation policies.

Otherwise where is the logic that makes the headlines scream at the grave injustice being meted out to Telugu films? So what if none of the telugu films made quite qualified to scratch the surface of good film making, none which explored the potential of a remarkable script and not even one that pushed the musical horizons beyond known limits.

I have a bit of an old school hangover. I still think awards are given to those who deserve it. And not to competitors who believe being recognised and rewarded is a birthright by mathematics. I contribute X% to the economy and so I should be given Y% of the awards. For chrissakes where did that gem of irony spring from; from whose logical loins did that attitude take birth?

Of course I agree with people who feel that a few awards were given to those who may not have deserved it in the first place or to those who just dared to portray a role that must have been made for Smita Patil, but hey, crying Foul has to be done within an accepted parameter, and not at random.

Perhaps Suresh Babu’s was the only voice that could be heard spouting reasonableness and maturity. Others dabbled in the mass hysteria that is more suited to dumbass crowds swaying to Rahul Gandhi’s magic.

I think we should stop looking at awards as a reward for enterprise and begin to understand that they are meant to be recognitions of excellence. And the faster we dedicate ourselves to the Big E of excellence, the better for the people, the better for the industry and the best for the many talented people who populate our beloved Tollywood.