Shabana Azmi awarded Legend of Bollywood at Power Brands Bollywood Film Journalists’ Awards 2024

2024 edition of biennial Power Brands BFJA was held in Mumbai last night with 12th Fail team present in full force winning 5 Roaring Lions including the Best Film & Best Direction while RRKPK took home 6 Roaring Lions inviting the a Best Supporting Actor for Shabana Azmi. For the year 2022 Gangubai team again present in full force took home an incredible 11 Roaring Lions.

The Planman Motion Pictures presents 8th BFJA ceremony, Co-powered by Kamdhenu and partnered by Amulya Mica, Today Tea, Bright Outdoors, Planman Marcom, GIDF, IIPM & Daily Indian Media was held at the Novotel in Juhu, Mumbai. Animal & Jawaan won in three categories each for this year while Bramhastra won in four categories for last year.

While accepting the standing ovation for the Legend of Bollywood Award, Shabana Azmi repeated the exact same sentiments that Vidhu Vinod Chopra shared about winning his Best Director Award— that it was a delight to finally see an award show where only film journalists vote, that too with votes visible transparently online on the philosophy of Open Ballot.

The jury this year consisted of noted film journalists and critics Faridoon Shahryar, Anuraag Pandey, Chaitanya Padukone, Dr. Rajiv Vijayakar, Ronak Kotecha, Shama Bhagat, Divya Solgama, Joginder Tuteja, Jyothi Venkatesh, Vishal Verma, Ram Kamal Mukherjee, Hemant Sanganee, Johnson Thomas, Kunal Mandekar, Narendra Gupta, Ashameera Aiyappan, Balaji Vittal & Dr. Ayanjit Sen amongst others.

7 Senior journalists and founding members of BFJA were specially awarded for their contribution to film journalism over decades. Shri Chaitanya Padukone was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award for his 4 decades of exceptional journalism. Shri Jyothi Venkatesh was awarded POWER BRAND OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT award, Dr. Rajiv Vijayakar was given the Power Brand Most Impactful Film & Music Journalist Award, Faridoon Shahryar the 2024 best NRI Bollywood Journalist, Divya Solagama, Joginder Tuteja & Vishal Verma were bestowed  the Power Brand Bollywood Journalist. Noted author Sahar Zaman took home the Roaring Lion for the Best Biographer of the year for her much appreciated book Talat Mehmood : The Definitive Biography. Ramkamal Mukherjee was given the BFJA special Mention award for winning the National Award for Ek Dua.

The event also saw the launch of the Power Brand book, “Boss Ladies” by Shikha Ghosh featuring Nandita Puri, Nivedita Saboo, Shailja Agarwal & Janhavi Sukhtankar amongst others in the presence of Shabana Azmi.

BFJA special mention and editors choice awards were also taken home by Divya Dutta, Malaika Arora, Esha Deol, Manjari Fadnnis, Seema Pahwa, Manav Kaul, Madhurima Tuli, Abhimanyu Dasani, Tanisha Mukerji, Urvashi Rautela & Shama Sikander. Ayesha Singh & Akanksha Ranjan Kapoor took home the Rising Star awards.

The team of Gadar 2 present in full force saw Anil Sharma taking the Most Impactful Director of the year award, Shyam Kaushal taking the Most Impactful Action Scene of the year award, Utkarsh Sharma & Manish Wadhwa for their Impactful performances. Soumik Sen accepted the Award for the Best Creative Director for the OTT series Jubilee.