After National Film Awards were announced last week, there has been a lot of chatter around some of the winners — including Shah Rukh Khan as the Best Actor, The Kerala Story director Sudipto Sen, and even the Best Supporting Actress award to Urvashi for Christo Tomy’s Malayalam film Ullozhukku. Now, television actor Rupali Ganguly, best known for her titular role in Anupamaa, has pointed out how there should be National Awards for the TV industry too.
“There are National Awards for everyone, from content creators to regional films. But there’s nothing for TV artistes. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, others had the advantage of delaying their shooting schedules and not step out of their homes, but we kept working,” said Ganguly.
In the interview to Viral Bhayani, she added, “When a film star works continuously for two days, it makes headlines. But no one talked about how we, the TV artists, worked non-stop from 6 am to 6 pm during the pandemic. I request the government to consider us also. We work very hard. It’ll be nice to have some validation.”
Ganguly also pointed out how BJP member and former I&B Minister Smriti Irani’s return to television can help accelerate the process of institutionalizing and organizing National Awards for the TV industry. “I’m so glad that Smriti ji has come back. It’s such a validation for a person of that stature to come back to the medium. It’ll make a difference. It may help us go in that direction because we need National Awards for TV actors too,” added Ganguly.
Over the past couple of weeks, fans of Anupamaa have been pitting Ganguly against Irani as the latter returns in the iconic role of Tulsi Virani in the reboot of Ekta Kapoor’s seminal daily soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. On the day of the latter’s premiere, channel StarPlus released a crossover promo in which Anupamaa is seen video calling Tulsi and welcoming her back to the small screen.
Ekta also dismissed the comparison between Anupamaa and Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. “I felt that was in such bad taste. She [Rupali] is such a big star. Anupamaa the show, the creator Raajan (Shahi)… has done what nobody else could do in the last seven years. They will continue to be number 1. They should continue to be number 1,” Kapoor told Brut.
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Last week, National Film Awards jury chairperson and filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker announced the awards in New Delhi. Key winners include Shah Rukh Khan for Jawan and Vikrant Massey for 12th Fail as the Best Actor, Rani Mukerji for Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway as the Best Actress, Uravashi as the Best Supporting Actress, and The Kerala Story director Sudipto Sen as the Best Director.
