Mehra Starts Protest Blog

Every time there are nominations for awards, there will invariably be some sections that will be unhappy and vocal about it. It is almost mandatory. Of course, when the Screen Awards were announced this year, it was surprising that a director like Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra whose 'Delhi 6' was one of the first big films to release last year, did not figure anywhere in the nominations.

In fact, Mehra is the one who has raised his voice against what he feels is unfair treatment being meted out to his movie. The film, which is known to be very close to Mehra's heart, received critical acclaim from a lot of sections but was unable to capture the imagination of the masses like his previous 'Rang De Basanti' did. But one thing about the movie which did very well was its music which had been composed by A. R. Rahman. The film's lyrics have been penned by Prasoon Joshi, who too has taken up cudgels on his director's behalf.

Mehra is believed to have started a blog, to just express his displeasure and shock at the nominations. The director is believed to be unhappy that Delhi 6's songs, its cinematography by Binod Pradhan and sync sound by Nakul Kamte were not recognised by the award committee. It will be remembered that in a mark of protest against the rigging that goes on at most award functions, actors like Aamir Khan and Sunny Deol make it point to never attend award functions. In Aamir's case. even if he is given an award, he never goes over to collect it. The actor only broke his rule for the National Awards. Of course, the case of Mehra's 'Delhi 6' is slightly different. It is a film which has managed to receive many extreme reactions.

There is a section which has loved it and another which found it too obscure. In fact, Mehra had wanted a bleak ending but had to bow to his producers' whims and change the ending of the film to a happy one. But he managed to have his way when he re edited his movie and inserted a bleak ending in the movie before sending it across to certain International film festivals.

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