Relative newcomer Rajkumar Rao in surprise win as Best Actor of the Year
MUMBAI: During the Star Screen Awards ceremony, relative newcomer Rajkumar Rao raised eyebrows by winning the Best Actor of the Year trophy.
He was credited with a realistic portrayal of his role in Newton.
Rao also declared the Best Supporting actor in Baeilly Ki Barfi. Irrfan Khan was hailed and voted the Best Actor on popular choice.
The Best Actress award went to Vidya Balan for her role as a radio presenter in Tumhari Sulu and Konkana Sen Sharma on critics’ choice for Lipstick Under My Burkha.
The Amir Khan movie Dangal got Nitesh Tiwari the award as Best Director as the movie also bagged honours for music, lyrics and editing. Master crooner Arijit Singh still remains the Best Singer for his mesmerising vocals in Raees and Jagga Jasoos. Members of the film fraternity who excelled in costume and story writing were also recognised.
The popular annual celebration and awards ceremony dubbed 2017 honoured commercially successful and critically acclaimed movies and creative artistic performances for the year gone by.
Leading personalities of the Indian world of cinema like Salman Khan, Varurn Dhawan, Tiger Sharoff, Madhuri Dixit and Ileana D’Cruz graced the occasion. The award ceremony saw some colourful and breathtaking performances by Bollywood stars.
Nominations for the awards had a mix of critics and popular choices. There were big-banner commercially successful movies and small films that won many hearts.
The announcement of winners for 2017 was a happy and most welcome departure from previous years where most of the facilitations have been shared by conventional lot of the Indian cinema.
Newton, an offbeat movie, a political satire that refrains from taking sides, was a huge winner.
The movie raises bold questions on the importance of an electoral system that India is proud of. It was also hailed during its world premiere during the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.