Filmfare Awards are presented annually for artistic and technical excellence in filmmaking in the Hindi language . The Indian magazine Filmfare presents the awards. Filmfare is an English-language magazine about Indian cinema. It is the oldest film magazine in India . Filmfare is published by Worldwide Media, a joint venture between The Times of India Group and BBC Worldwide.
Filmfare Awards are announced for motion pictures made during the previous year. Winners of a Filmfare Award receive a black statue, generally made of bronze, depicting a woman with her arms raised in a traditional Indian dance pose. The Filmfare Awards have often been referred to as the Hindi film industry’s equivalent of the Academy Awards . The Academy Awards are the best-known film awards and are presented annually in Hollywood .
The Filmfare Awards were first presented in 1954. They were initially called the Clare Awards or the Clares, after Clare Mendonca, the film critic of The Times of India, an English-language daily newspaper in India. Mendonca had recently died. Five awards were presented in 1954, for best film, best director, best actor, best actress, and best music director.
In 1956, a dual voting system for the awards was developed. Under this system, both the public and a committee of experts vote for the awards. The number of Filmfare Awards given annually has changed over the years. Today, Filmfare Awards are presented in more than 30 categories. These include merit awards, critics’ awards, technical awards, and special awards.
Filmfare Awards South are the South Indian version of the Filmfare Awards. These awards are presented annually for movies in the Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu languages . Filmfare Awards South are also presented by Filmfare and were first awarded in 1954. The first Filmfare Awards East were presented in 2014. These awards recognize movies in the Assamese , Bengali , and Odia languages.
