Filmfare Awards and IFFI: Origins, Trophies and Winners

The correct answer is C, 1954. The magazine Filmfare, published by The Times Group, held its first award ceremony in 1954 for the films released in 1953, which makes these the oldest film awards in India. Option A, 1947, is the year of independence and is offered only as a familiar date. Option B, 1952, is a strong distractor because that is the year the International Film Festival of India was first held, and papers often place the two years side by side. Option D, 1969, is the year the Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted, and its first recipient was Devika Rani. Note that the National Film Awards also began in 1954, as the State Awards for Films, so 1954 belongs to two institutions at once and a question may ask for either.

The correct answer is A, the Black Lady. The Filmfare statuette, designed by the sculptor N. G. Pansare, shows a female figure and the dark finish gave it its popular name, which the magazine itself uses. Option B, the Golden Lotus or Swarna Kamal, is wrong because that is the trophy of the National Film Awards, given by the Government of India for the Best Feature Film. Option C, the Golden Peacock or Swarna Mayur, belongs to the International Film Festival of India and goes to the best film of its international competition. Option D, the Silver Lion, is not an Indian award at all; the Golden Lion is the top prize of the Venice Film Festival. Fixing one trophy to one giver removes most of the confusion in this topic.

The correct answer is B, Clare Awards. At their start in 1954 the awards carried the name of Clare Mendonca, a critic associated with The Times of India, and only later did they come to be called the Filmfare Awards after the magazine. Option A, Phalke Awards, is wrong; the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is a government honour instituted in 1969 and presented with the National Film Awards. Option C, Times Awards, is a plausible invention because the magazine belongs to The Times Group, but the awards were never called that. Option D, Bombay Film Awards, is wrong as well and is offered only because the first ceremony was held in Bombay. This is a favourite question precisely because the earlier name is unexpected, so store the name Clare Mendonca with it.

The correct answer is B, Do Bigha Zamin. Bimal Roy's film about a farmer who goes to Calcutta to pull a rickshaw took the first Filmfare Award for Best Film, and Bimal Roy took the first award for Best Direction for the same film. Option A, Baiju Bawra, is the closest distractor, because Meena Kumari won the first Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her role in it. Option C, Mother India, came later and is remembered instead as the first Indian film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Option D, Awara, directed by Raj Kapoor, won no Filmfare Award for Best Film. Remember the first set together: Do Bigha Zamin for film and direction, Dilip Kumar for Daag, and Meena Kumari for Baiju Bawra.

The correct answer is C, Meena Kumari. She received the first Filmfare Award for Best Actress for Baiju Bawra, and the first Best Actor award of the same year went to Dilip Kumar for Daag. Option A, Nargis, is wrong for the first award, though she is strongly associated with the period through Mother India and later received the Padma Shri. Option B, Madhubala, won no Filmfare Award for Best Actress, which surprises students and makes her a useful distractor. Option D, Nutan, belongs to a slightly later phase and won several Filmfare awards, but not the first one. The pair to memorise is Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari as the first acting winners, both honoured at the ceremony of 1954 for films of 1953 and 1952.

The correct answer is A, 1952. The first edition was organised on behalf of the Government of India and travelled through Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Calcutta and Trivandrum, which made it the first international film festival held anywhere in Asia. Option B, 1954, is the year the Filmfare Awards and the National Film Awards began, so it is the most tempting wrong choice. Option C, 1969, is the year of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Option D, 1975, is offered because the festival changed its form more than once in its early decades, moving between competitive and non-competitive editions. A second fact goes with 1952: the festival is accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, written as FIAPF, which is what permits its competitive section.

The correct answer is C, Panaji in Goa. The thirty-fifth edition of 2004 was the first held in Goa, and the state has been the permanent venue since then, with the festival normally taking place in the last week of November. Option A, New Delhi, hosted the festival several times before 2004, which is why it appears here. Option B, Mumbai, is where the first edition of 1952 began, and the city holds its own festival, the Mumbai Film Festival, so it is a genuine distractor. Option D, Kolkata, also hosted early editions and runs the Kolkata International Film Festival, which is separate. The organisers are the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting together with the Government of Goa, and that partnership is the reason the venue is now fixed.

The correct answer is C, the International Film Festival of India. The Golden Peacock, or Swarna Mayur, goes to the best film of the international competition at IFFI, and the cash prize is shared between the director and the producer; Silver Peacock awards go to the best director, the best actor and the best actress. Option A, the Filmfare Awards, is wrong because that trophy is the Black Lady. Option B, the National Film Awards, is wrong because the Best Feature Film there receives the Golden Lotus, the Swarna Kamal. Option D, Cannes, is wrong; its highest prize is the Palme d'Or, while Berlin gives the Golden Bear and Venice the Golden Lion. Learn the four trophies as a single row, because one question can be built from any of them.

The correct answer is A, the International Film Festival of India. The medal is given at IFFI by the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication, based in Paris and associated with UNESCO, to a film that reflects the ideals of peace, tolerance and non-violence that Mahatma Gandhi stood for. Option B, the National Film Awards, is wrong; those are decided by juries appointed by the Government of India and carry Golden and Silver Lotus awards. Option C, the Filmfare Awards South, is a magazine's regional ceremony for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema. Option D, the Mumbai Film Festival, is a separate festival run by a private film academy. The words UNESCO and Gandhi together always point to IFFI in these questions. A further detail helps: the council is an international non-governmental body associated with UNESCO, and the medal it gives at IFFI is a separate honour from the festival's own Golden and Silver Peacock awards.

The correct answer is A, Devika Rani. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was instituted in 1969 to mark the birth centenary of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, who made Raja Harishchandra in 1913, and the actress Devika Rani received it first. Option B, Prithviraj Kapoor, received the award soon afterwards, which makes him the usual wrong answer. Option C, Pankaj Mullick, the composer and singer, also received it in the early years but not first. Option D, Ruby Myers, who acted under the name Sulochana, received it as well, and she is placed here because her career belongs to the silent era like Phalke's own. The award is India's highest honour in cinema and is presented along with the National Film Awards, not with the Filmfare Awards. One more fact completes the set: Dhundiraj Govind Phalke is called the father of Indian cinema, and Raja Harishchandra of 1913 is counted as the first full-length Indian feature film.