This year, National Awards looked like another Bollywood award: Rituparna Sengupta

The 63rd National Film Awards have come as a shocker to the Bengali Film industry . Apart from Sankhachil, which was declared the Best Feature Film in Bengali, no other movie has made the cut in popular categories, leaving Rituparna Sengupta -lauded for her role as Begum Jaan in Rajkahini -miffed and angered by the turn of events.

Rituparna, a strong contender for the Best Actress award, lost out to Kangana Ranaut this year. ���We, who hail from the regional film industries, look forward to this award. But sadly , this year, The National Film Awards have been reduced to another Bollywood award. I know Ramesh Sippy , who chaired the awards this time, and I will definitely ask him about the selection process and the parameters on which the films were judged. See, there are many awards for Bollywood, but hardly any for regional film industries and I'm very , very hurt,��� she said. For Begum Jaan, Rituparna worked on her diction, voice and even body language. The efforts were praised by many including Mahesh Bhatt, who is now making the film in Hindi.

Rituparna said she wouldn't be surprised if Vidya Balan -who is set to reprise Begum Jaan -wins a National Award next year. ���In an interview, Mahesh Bhatt had said he has seen such an act years after Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil gave some stellar performances. Such a role doesn't come by often. Even Shabanaji wouldn't be able to recreate Godmother so easily . Likewise, it isn't easy for Dimpleji (Kapadia) to deliver another Rudaali. Kangana got the Best Actress award for Queen last year and though she has done a good job, it's sad that regional actresses are overlooked like this! I even asked Bhatt saab what are the yardsticks of measuring a performance and who is to say which is better. I wonder if the jury patiently watched all the movies.��� Also, I would have been happier to have lost to another regional actress,��� Rituparna said.

Rituparna, who is happy for Sankhachil's big win, said she was also expecting films like Belaseshe, Rajkahini and

Cinemawala

to win a few awards. ���Kaushik Ganguly won the ICFT-Unesco Fellini Prize for Cinemawala at IFFI, why was his film given a miss by the National Film Awards? Why was Belaseshe, the most accepted film last year, not considered for Best Film on Family Welfare, a category which was left blank this time? Why was Rajkahini totally overlooked? Also, each of these films had some remarkable performances,��� said Rituparna, who is happy that Neeraj Ghaywan won the Best Debut Film of A Director for Masaan. ���All is not lost though we expected better results,��� she said.