Delhi HC Stayed the Announcement of National Film Awards

The Delhi High Court stayed the announcement of the 53rd National Film Awards, slated for May 12, 2007. The court also directed the I&B Ministry to consider representations made by a jury member Shyamli Banerjee Deb, who alleged favouritism in the selection of films in certain categories. The categories that are in question include "Best Film" (Black), "Best Debutant Director" (Parineeta), "Best Actress" (Parzania), "Best Special Effects" (Anniyan) and "Best Screenplay" (Apaharan).

Dev argued that Sanjay Leela Bansali’s "Black" cannot be awarded the best film on the grounds that it was an adaptation of the English feature film "The Miracle Worker" of 1962. She also alleged that some of the above films were out of reckoning in the preliminary round, but were arbitrarily selected for the award at a later stage. The court fixed July 26 as the date for next hearing into the matter and asked the Ministry to file the reply by this date.