Filmfare Revelations - Part 1

1. Filmfare Awards were first called Clare Awards, constituted in 1954 after the name of Clare Mendonca (the Times of India film critic who died the year of the first awards, 1954). A dual voting system was developed in 1956.

2. To celebrate the 25th year of the awards the statues were made in Silver.

3. To celebrate the 50th year the statues were made in Gold.

4. Gregory Peck was expected to be the guest of honour at the first ever awards (March 21, 1954 at the Metro theatre, Mumbai). He couldn't make it to the function since his flight from Colombo got delayed. Peck, however, did attend the banquet that followed the award nite.

5. The first awards function was held on 21 March 1954, and only five awards were presented that day– for the best film , the best director, the best actor, the best actress, and the best music director.

6. At the first “Clares” Awards function, Bimal Roy’s ‘Do Bigha Zameen’ won the award for the best film; Bimal Roy went home with the Best Director award. Dilip Kumar was adjudged as the Best Actor (Male) for ‘Daag’, while Meena Kumari won her statuette for Baiju Bawra. Naushad was bestowed with the Best Music-director for his beautiful compositions in the Bharat Bhushan starrer, ‘Baiju Bawra’.

7. The Filmfare Awards for playback singing first started in 1958. In 1956, the song 'Rasik Balma' from the film Chori Chori by Shankar Jaikishan won the Best Song Filmfare Award. Lata refused to sing it live in protest of absence of a Playback Singer category. The category was finally introduced in 1958. Though, separate awards for male & female singers were introduced later on.

8. First Filmfare Award of Best Playback Singer (Male/Female) went to Lata Mangeshkar for the song Aaja re pardesi (Madhumati) in 1958.
From the year 1958 to 1966 no other female singer was able to get the filmfare award. Since she had won the popular Filmfare awards so many times & had always been accussed of monopolising the industry (along with sister Asha), after 1969, she made the unusual gesture of giving up FILMFARE awards in favour of fresh talent. And after decades, in 1995, Lata Mangeshkar accepted the Best Playback Singer award for Hum Aapke Hai Koun! once again on popular demand.


9. In 1975, Yash Chopra's Deewaar swept all the awards except, surprisingly, for the lead actor Amitabh Bachchan. 1975's Best Actor awards went to not so famous Sadhu Meher for his performance in Ankur.

10. One of Filmfare’s mighty losers has been ‘Sholay’, which won only one award in 1975 that too for Best Editing!!!


11. Choreographer B. Sohanlal who was the president of the choreographer's association consistently appealed to the Filmfare to have an award for Best choreography. But his plea was answered only in 1988 when the Best Choreography Award was conceived. And the first choreography award was won by Sohanlal's disciple Saroj Khan for Madhuri’s sizzling "Ek Do Teen..." from Tezaab.


12. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Black’ holds the record of winning the maximum number of Filmfare Awards. It won 11 at the 51st Filmfare Awards.

13. Dilip Kumar has been nominated for 19 Filmfare Best Actor Awards in all and he won 8 awards for Best Actor (a record). Shah Rukh Khan has been nominated for 17 times and won 7 times. Amitabh Bachchan has been nominated for 28 Filmfare Best Actor Awards in all (a record) but won 4.