No award, loads of applause

Whether we win or lose, we’ll party,” director Karan Johar wasn’t looking for a reason to party ahead of the 47TH International Emmy Awards at New York. In fact, he had a reason to party — a solid one. While his friend and co-producer Anurag Kashyap had two of them; having directed both Lust Stories and Sacred Games, nominated for Best TV movie/Mini Series and Best Drama series, respectively. Joining Anurag Kashyap in double the celebration was Radhika Apte, who made her debut on the Emmy red carpet count — in a gold, ruffled gown and red lips. “So honoured,” she already Instagrammed just before the gala, along with a picture of the nomination medal and certificate.

While one was going to party, the other was honoured, somebody else was delighted! Nawazuddin Siddiqui said “Pure delight” on McMafia winning the award for Best Drama series, wherein Nawazuddin plays a Mumbai gangster named Dilly Mahmood. Never mind; the Ganesh Gaitonde of Sacred Games couldn’t bag the award, but he bagged the spotlight for Indian productions.

Which is precisely why joining in the party are also the young directors and producers associated with OTT platforms. Says Vishal Kumar Patil, director and writer of Khushfehmiyaan, a Gemplex Original series, “The digital entertainment space in India is still very young and I am happy that we have arrived on the world stage with a few Emmy nominations.”
He adds, “I believe our audience has become more accepting towards variation in cinema, which gives a lot of scope to us — directors. And now many global awards are just around the corner for India. It’s just a matter of time and till then, cheers to content from the Indian sub-continent.”

India shiningBut that’s not where the reasons end or the nominations for that matter. Reality show The Remix was up for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award, though it lost to UK’s The Real Full Monty: Ladies’ Night, a celebrity series as they journey together, learn to accept love and dare to bare their bodies while creating awareness for cancer. Moving on, Witness: India’s Forbidden Love was up for Best Documentary, though the award eventually went to Bellingcat—Truth in a Post-Truth World. The winning documentary charts the inception and journey of the revolutionary “citizen investigative journalist”, collectively known as Bellingcat.

Producer Shwetaabh Singh, whose production Aise Hee premiered at the Busan International Film Festival, says getting nominated for Emmys itself is an encouraging prospect for India. “Especially considering that in almost 47 editions, it’s only recently that our work has started getting recognised. I call it encouraging, as only in the recent years the kind of work we are doing is showing some positive changes in terms of content and treatment. So this recognition shows we are doing something right. But the fact that we are not winning means that there is still a big scope for creating even more powerful body of work.” True, but first let’s party!