Most Filmfare Awards nominations for a war film

Shershaah (“Lion King”, India, 2021) collected 19 nominations ahead of the 67th Filmfare Awards, including seven that picked up awards during the ceremony at Mumbai’s Jio World Centre on 30 August 2022: Best Film, Best Director (Vishnuvardhan), Best Music Director (Tanishk Bagchi/B Praak (Pratik Bachan)/Jaani (Rajiv Kumar)/Jasleen Royal/Javed-Mohsin/Vikram Montrose), Best Playback Singer – Male (B Praak for “Mann Bharrya”), Best Playback Singer – Female (Asees Kaur for “Raataan Lambiyaan”), Best Editing (Akkineni Sreekar Prasad) and Best Action (Stefan Richter/Sunil Rodrigues). Based on the life of Indian Army officer Vikram Batra (1974-99), Shershaah premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 12 August 2021.

In the 68-year history of the Filmfare Awards (1954–), just two films – both musical dramas – have received as many as 19 nominations: Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (“Never Say Goodbye”, India, 2006), with 23 nominations for the 52nd edition (2007), and Gully Boy (India, 2019), with 19 nominations for the 65th edition (2020). Only one other war-themed film, Upkar (India, 1967), has won as many as seven Filmfare awards, at the 15th edition in 1968.

Shershaah’s non-winning nominations were for Best Actor (Sidharth Malhotra), Best Actress (Kiara Advani, b. Alia Advani), Best Screenplay and Best Dialogue (Sandeep Shrivastava), Best Lyricist (Tanishk Bagchi for “Raataan Lambiyaan” and Jaani for “Mann Bharrya”), Best Playback Singer – Male (Jubin Nautiyal for “Raataan Lambiyaan”), Best Production Design (Amit Ray/Subrata Chakraborty), Best Cinematography (Kamaljeet Negi), Best Background Score (John Stewart Eduri), Best Costume Design (Eka Lakhani) and Best Special Effects (Red Chillies VFX).