Not Paan Singh Tomar or Gangs of Wasseypur but Barfi! and Kahaani. Both these films took what the awards had to offer, leaving Ranbir Kapoor and Vidya Balan glowing in the limelight. Third in ranking was Vicky Donor the film produced by actor John Abraham, featuring VJ Ayushman Khurana.  The once in a year extravaganza took place at Yash Raj Films studio in Andheri in suburban Mumbai.

Just like the year before, Vidya Balan in this year’s award ceremony managed to steal the show. Her performance in Kahaani was appreciated by the jury and the efforts of Sujoy Ghosh to bring to life her character were rewarded by the best director award. However, that wasn’t it; while Best Sound Design award went to Sanjay Maurya and Allwin Rego, Namrata Rao bagged the Best Editing title and Sethu won Best Cinematography for Kahaani.

The best actor Filmfare award was given to Ranbir Kapoor for Barfi! and the best debutante award was handed over to Illeana D’Cruz. Barfi! also bagged an award for its music in two categories; Best Background Score and Best Music Director award both went to Pritam. Then again for the same film, Rajat Podar was called onto stage to collect his award for the Best Production Design.

We were rather overwhelmed at the attention given to Vicky Donor; VJ Ayushman Khurana walked home with two awards, for Best Debut (Male) and Best Playback Singer (Male) for the song Paani Da. Other awards for the same film were given to Annu Kapoor who won the best actor award in supporting role for his portrayal of Dr Chaddha and for Best Story Juhi Chaturvedi.

Yash Chopra’s last film Jab Tak Hai Jaan was awarded twice; Gulzar and Anushka Sharma were given the Best Lyrics and Best Actor Award in a Supporting Role simultaneously. Perhaps, the jury would have faced the wrath of a lot of fans if they hadn’t awarded Irrfan Khan and Richa Chaddha; so, they did give the two the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter’s work in Gangs of Wasseypur and the former’s work in Paan Singh Tomar.