Ivan Ayr, Kislay win Best Debut writer’s award for Soni [2019], Vijay Maurya bags Best Dialogues award for Gully Boy, Netflix’s Delhi Crime named Best Web Series, Manoj Muntashir’s Teri Mitti from Kesari wins Best Lyrics

By Our Correspondent

In its 107 year history, Indian cinema has finally seen an awards do that is dedicated to the unheralded community of screenwriters and lyricists. The Coronavirus pandemic resulted in the inaugural SWA [Screenwriters Association] awards to he held online. At the end of it, Anubhav Sinha’s Article 15 [2019] won the top honours in Best Story and Best Screenplay category.

Director Sinha and his co-writer Gaurav Solanki’s hard hitting social, crime drama Article 15 beat Zoya Akhar- Reema Kagti’s Gully Boy [2019], which had won all other popular awards. Devyanshu Singh and Satyanshu Singh’s Chintu Ka Birthday on Zee5 was the surprise pick in the final nomination. Abhishek Chaubey-Sudip Sharma’s Sonchiriya, featuring the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, and debutant director Ivan Ayr’s Soni completed the final nomination. Ayr and co-writer Kislay won the award for Best Debut writer. Ayr-Kislay beat the likes of Devyanshu Singh-Satyanshu Singh for Chintu Ka Birthday, Sandeep Pandey for Chousar Firangi, Ravinder Randhawa for Hamid and Aadish Keluskar for Jaoon Kahan Bata Ae Dil. Soni [2019] also won the award for Best Gender Sensitive Script.

Meanwhile, Sinha and Solanki faced tough competition in the Best Screenplay category that also featured Niren Bhatt for Bala, Devyanshu, Satyanshu Singh for Chintu Ka Birthday, Reema Kagti-Zoya Akhtar for Gully Boy, and Vasan Bala for the action dark comedy Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota.

Lyricist Manoj Muntashir’s Teri Mitti from the Akshay Kumar-starrer Kesari won the Best Lyrics [film] award. There was an award here in the web series/TV category, too, with Zama Habib winning it for the song Ek Chup Tum, Ek Chup Main from the show Ishaaron Ishaaron Mein.

The awards covered the television industry and web-series too were honoured. Netflix show Delhi Crime written by Richie Mehta and Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh picked the top honour for Best Original Drama.

Devika Bhagat and Ishita Moitra’s Four More Shots Please on Amazon Prime Video won for Best Original Comedy.

Despite the wide criticism, Dhruv Narang, Nihit Bhave, Pooja Tolani and Varun Grover surprisingly won the Best Adaptation award for Sacred Games – season 2.

The event can be viewed on Screenwriters Association’s YouTube Channel at https://youtu.be/A0-EWP4vPSk and on their Facebook Page.