We agree that 2017 has been a bad year for Bollywood (and with the release of Tiger Zinda Hai it’s only gonna get worse). But it wasn’t so bad that you award Rohit Shetty’s umpteenth edition of his slapstick Golmaal series the Best Film trophy. 

The Zee Cine Awards 2018 also tried to imply that Varun Dhawan in Badrinath Ki Dulhania was better than Rajkummar Rao in Trapped or Newton or any of his other mainstream movies. It’s all the more shocking that Rao didn’t even feature on the nominee list. His film was nominated as India’s official Oscar entry for crying out loud!

Creating a flimsy ‘Extraordinary Impact Award’ category just to compensate for Rao makes little sense when he could have been your first choice for the Best Actor in the first place. 

And dear jury, you’re also telling us that Sridevi in Mom or Zaira Wasim in Secret Superstar or Vidya Balan in Tumhari Sulu were all inferior performances than Alia Bhatt in Badrinath? 

The bizarre winners list also included Anil Kapoor as the Best Supporting Actor for Mubarakan (yes, for real) and Nidhi Aggarwal as the best debutante for Munna Michael. 

Given the political allegiances of former Zee TV chairman and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Chandra, it was no surprise that the Viewers’ Choice Best Film accolade and weird-sounding ‘Extraordinary Impact Award’ went to Akshay Kumar’s Toilet: Ek Prem Katha — the poster boy for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachcha Bharat scheme.

Check out the winner’s list below and judge the credibility of the awards for yourself. It’s high time the organisers and jury pulled up their socks or better shut shop and sit at home with their highly unbelievable opinions. 

Extraordinary Legend Award: Amitabh Bachchan

Best Actor in a Negative Role: Raj Rajun for Secret Superstar

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female): Meher Vij for Secret Superstar

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male): Anil Kapoor for Mubarakan

Best Debut Director: Advait Chandan for Secret Superstar

Best Debut (Male): Matin Ray Tangu for Tubelight

Best Debut (Female): Nidhi Aggarwal for Munna Michael

Viewers Choice Best Film Award: Toilet: Ek Prem Katha

Extraordinary Franchise Award: Baahubali

Extraordinary Impact Award (Female): Taapsee Pannu for Naam Shabana

Extraordinary Impact Award (Male): Rajkummar Rao

Best Director: Ashiwini Iyer Tiwari for Bareilly Ki Barfi