UP most film-friendly state: After voters’ rejection, National Film Awards 'honours' Akhilesh’s govt

The honour for the state comes at a time when Uttar Pradesh recently got a new regime under the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Lucknow, April 7: The winners for 64th National Film Awards were announced on Friday. Uttar Pradesh bagged the award for the most film-friendly state, announced filmmaker Priyadarshan, who was the chairperson for the jury panel this year. Jharkhand also got a special mention in the same category.

"64th National Film Awards: Uttar Pradesh is selected ' Most Film Friendly State', Special mention Award to Jharkand," tweeted ANI.

The honour for the state comes at a time when Uttar Pradesh recently got a new regime under the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, the award is for the period between 2016-2017, thus the laurel is a pat on the back of former chief minister of the state, Akhilesh Yadav, and his party, the Samajwadi Party.

We don't know how much Akhilesh would cherish the honour. However, the Samajwadi Party president and the former chief minister of the state steadfastly worked to attract filmmakers, especially from Bollywood, to shoot movies in the state during his tenure.

After the humiliating poll debacle in the recent assembly elections, where the Samajwadi Party and the Congress alliance managed to win just 54 seats in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the award comes as some sort of solace for Akhilesh.

The hashtag--#NationalFilmAwards--trended on Twitter on Friday after a host of film awards were announced by the jury members. The National Film Awards is considered one of the most prestigious film awards in the country as the jury decides the fate of films, and not public voting. Like in the past, this year too it looks like a couple of controversies would erupt over the selection of winners in the coming days.

OneIndia News