Group M Motion Entertainment in collaboration with the Film Critics Guild and Vistas Media Capital, unveils the nominations across 24 diverse categories for the prestigious Critics’ Choice Awards 2024. Now in its 6th edition, the awards recognize and honour the best of talent in feature films, short films, and web series in India every year, across all languages and platforms.
The Film Critics Guild is India’s pioneering association of the most renowned and credible critics who are committed towards honoring path breaking works of cinema that have carved a niche with their standout storytelling. 50 respected and credible film critics who are members of the Film Critics Guild represent the eminent Critics Choice Awards jury. This esteemed body acknowledges cinematic excellence across languages, categories, and formats. They play a crucial role in recognizing and evaluating the most exceptional and groundbreaking works in Short films, cinema and OTT.
This year’s jury comprises of prominent figures including Anupama Chopra (Chairperson), Stutee Ghosh (Vice Chairperson), Shomini Sen (Secretary), along with Ajay Brahmatmaj, Bharathi Pradhan, Baradwaj Rangan, Bhawana Somaaya, Deepak Dua, Rohit Khilnani, Sachin Chatte, Sucharita Tyagi, Sangeetha Devi, Tanul Thakur, Udita Jhunjhunwala, and other prominent critics from print, radio, broadcast, and digital media platforms.
The year 2023 witnessed strong performances, diverse stories, and creative talent across the spectrum of filmmaking. While nominations for the feature film category include 17 feature films spanning 7 languages including Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Malayalam, and Tamil; some of the films that stand out in this year's nominations are 12th Fail, Dhuin, Joram, and Kaathal – The Core, among others. The nominations list also includes actors Shahid Kapoor, Vikrant Massey, Vijay Varma, Manoj Bajpayee, Mammootty, Kay Kay Menon, Sonakshi Sinha, Shefali Shah, and Kalki Koechlin; while notable directors on the list include Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Devashish Makhija, P. S. Vinothraj, Avinash Arun, and Rima Das.
Sharing her views on the strong list of nominations this year, Anupama Chopra, Chairperson, Film Critics Guild said, “Witnessing the depth of storytelling prowess across short films, web series & feature films to come up with our final list of diverse and deserving nominees has been a rewarding task. We are proud to present the best of Indian content and champion emerging voices from across the country at our upcoming Critics' Choice Awards 2024. Stay tuned to find out what the Critics loved most, and who takes home the Awards!”
Ashwin Padmanabhan, President – Investments, Trading and Partnerships, Group M India said, “We'd like to congratulate each Critics Choice Award nominee. The sheer number of applications and the caliber of the stories they depict are fascinating. It was a challenging endeavor to narrow it down to such a small number, but we are happy to showcase the finest Indian talent. We send all the nominees our best wishes.”
Abhayanand Singh, Co-Founder and Group CEO for Vistas Media added, “2023 has been one of the best years for Indian cinema with some of the best content coming out from all major languages. Vistas Media is extremely excited to now honour the talent behind these as we get ready for another edition of CCA.”
Below are the nominations for the Critics’ Choice Awards 2024, with the complete list included for your reference.
Feature Film Nominations
Best Film:
12th Fail
Dhuin
Fire in the Mountains
Joram
Kaathal – The Core
Koozhangal (Pebbles)
Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam
Shesh Pata
Three of Us
Tora's Husband
Best Actor:
1. Vikrant Massey for "12th Fail"
2. Abhinav Jha for "Dhuin"
3. Manoj Bajpayee for "Joram"
4. Mammootty for "Kaathal – The Core"
5. Prosenjit Chatterjee for "Shesh Pata"
Best Actress:
1. Vinamrata Rai for "Fire in the Mountains"
2. Kalki Koechlin for "Goldfish"
3. Jyothika for "Kaathal – The Core"
4. Shefali Shah for "Three of Us"
5. Shahana Goswami for "Zwigato"
Best Supporting Actor:
1. Ambarish Bhattacharya for "Ardhangini"
2. Pankaj Kapur for "Bheed"
3. Aditya Rawal for "Faraaz"
4. Jaideep Ahlawat for "Jaane Jaan"
5. Sudhi Kozhikode for "Kaathal – The Core"
Best Supporting Actress:
1. Jaya Ahsan for "Ardhangini"
2. Deepti Naval for "Goldfish"
3. Smita Tambe for "Joram"
4. Gunjalamma for "Pinki Elli? (Where Is Pinki?)"
5. Gargee Roy Chowdhury for "Shesh Pata"
Best Writing:
1. Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Jaskunwar Kohli, Anurag Pathak, Aayush Saxena and Vikas Divyakirti for "12th Fail"
2. Prashant Rana, Achal Mishra, Anubhav Priya and Abhinav Jha for "Dhuin"
3. Devashish Makhija for "Joram"
4. P. S. Vinothraj for "Koozhangal (Pebbles)"
5. Rima Das for "Tora's Husband"
Best Director:
1. Vidhu Vinod Chopra for "12th Fail"
2. Devashish Makhija for "Joram"
3. P. S. Vinothraj for "Koozhangal (Pebbles)"
4. Avinash Arun Dhaware for "Three of Us"
5. Rima Das for "Tora's Husband"
Best Editing:
1. Achal Mishra for "Dhuin"
2. Abhro Banerjee for "Joram"
3. Ganesh Siva for "Koozhangal (Pebbles)"
4. Sanyukta Kaza for "Three of Us"
5. Rima Das for "Tora's Husband"
Best Cinematography:
1. Anand Bansal for "Dhuin"
2. Piyush Puty for "Joram"
3. Vignesh Kumulai and Che Parthi for "Koozhangal (Pebbles)"
4. Theni Eswar for "Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam"
5. Avinash Arun Dhaware for "Three of Us”
Web Series Nominations
Best Web Series:
Dahaad
Farzi
Jubilee
Kohrra
Trial by Fire
Best Director:
1. Reema Kagti and Ruchika Oberoi for “Dahaad”
2. Vikramaditya Motwane for “Jubilee”
3. Randeep Jha for “Kohrra”
4. Konkona Sen Sharma for “Lust Stories S2: The Mirror”
5. Prashant Nair, Randeep Jha, Avani Deshpande for “Trial by Fire”
Best Writing:
1. Reema Kagti, Ritesh Shah, Mansi Jain, Sunayana Kumari, Karan Shah, Chaitanya Chopra, Zoya Akhtar and Sumit Arora for “Dahaad”
2. Atul Sabharwal for “Jubilee”
3. Gunjit Chopra, Diggi Sisodia and Sudip Sharma for “Kohrra”
4. Konkona Sen Sharma and Pooja Tolani for “Lust Stories S2: The Mirror”
5. Prashant Nair and Kevin Luperchio for “Trial by Fire”
Best Actor:
1. Vijay Varma for “Dahaad”
2. Shahid Kapoor for “Farzi”
3. Suvinder Vicky for “Kohrra”
4. Gagan Dev Riar for “Scam 2003 - The Telgi Story: Volume 2”
5. Kay Kay Menon for “The Railway Men”
Best Actress:
1. Sonakshi Sinha for “Dahaad”
2. Wamiqa Gabbi for “Jubilee”
3. Tillotama Shome for “Lust Stories S2: The Mirror”
4. Karishma Tanna for “Scoop”
5. Rajshri Deshpande for “Trial by Fire”
Best Supporting Actor:
1. Gulshan Devaiah for “Dahaad”
2. Vijay Sethupathi for “Farzi”
3. Sidhant Gupta for “Jubilee”
4. Barun Sobti for “Kohrra”
5. Abhay Deol for “Trial by Fire”
Best Supporting Actress:
1. Zoa Morani for “Dahaad”
2. Aditi Rao Hydari for “Jubilee”
3. Mona Singh for “Kaala Paani”
4. Amruta Subhash for “Lust Stories S2: The Mirror”
5. Nimrat Kaur for “School of Lies”
Short Film Nominations
Best Short Film:
1. Cabbage
2. Giddh (The Scavenger)
3. Next, Please
4. Nocturnal Burger
5. Scenes from a Pandemic
Best Director:
1. Disha Bhardwaj for “Chupi Roh (Stay Quiet)”
2. Manish Saini for “Giddh (The Scavenger)”
3. Rishav Kapoor for “Next, Please”
4. Reema Maya for “Nocturnal Burger”
5. Tanmaya Shekhar for “Scenes from a Pandemic”
Best Actor:
1. Sabyasachi Chakraborty for “Cabbage”
2. Sanjay Mishra for “Giddh” (The Scavenger)
3. Dibyendu Bhattacharya for “Ghuspaith Between Borders” (Infiltration Between Borders)
4. Deepak Rai Panaje for “Sura” (Deity)
5. Denzil Smith for “White Ant”
Best Actress:
1. Moon Moon Sen for “Cabbage”
2. Shreya Dhanwanthary for “Next, Please”
3. Millo Sunka for “Nocturnal Burger”
4. Molshri for “Scenes From a Pandemic”
5. Anita Date for “Shurpankha”
Best Writing:
1. Ashok Sankhla and Manish Saini for “Giddh” (The Scavenger)
2. Chaitanya Tamhane for “Next, Please”
3. Reema Maya for “Nocturnal Burger”
4. Tanmaya Shekhar for “Scenes From a Pandemic”
5. Shalini Adnani for “White Ant”
Best Cinematography:
1. Swathy Deepak for “Giddh” (The Scavenger)
2. Jigmet Wangchuk for “Last Days of Summer”
3. Harshvir Oberai for “Nocturnal Burger”
4. Abhay Balkawade for “Praanpratishtha” (Consecration)
5. Adric Watson for “White Ant”