Here’s reviving the Raj Kapoor Awards for Excellence in Entertainment, instituted by thedaily.info. We start 2021 with announcing awards for excellence in the various categories of web series on OTT platforms.

As the year is ebbing off - a year like never before - with its mounting number of tragedies and anxieties of mortality swirling within us, we attempt now to spread some cheer and salute one of our go-to relief points: the OTT platforms.

The show must sparkle on. So, here’s reviving the Raj Kapoor Awards for Excellence in Entertainment, instituted  by thedailyeye.info in 2018. The current situation being what it is, we are confining our salutes exclusively to the web series which emerged from the outset of 2020, the cut-off date being December 15, 2020. The focus is  on the series (earlier called serials), which had us bingeing and craving for more.

The selection in the various categories has been finalised by a  jury comprising director of photography Faroukh Mistry, sound designer Kunal Mehta, senior government officer Sushil Poddar, film scholar Dhruv Somani and actor Asha Parekh, chaired  by our resident OTT reviewer Khalid Mohamed.

After due deliberations, over to the WINNERS:

BEST OTT PLATFORM: AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

BEST WEB SERIES: SCAM 1992: THE HARSHAD MEHTA STORY (SonyLIV)

BEST DIRECTOR: HANSAL MEHTA – SCAM 1992: THE HARSHAD MEHTA  STORY (SonyLIV)

BEST MALE ACTOR: PRATIK GANDHI – SCAM 1992: THE HARSHAD MEHTA STORY (SonyLIV)

BEST FEMALE ACTOR: SUSHMITA SEN – AARYA (Disney+Hotstar)

BEST MALE SUPPORTING ACTOR: ATUL KULKARNI – BANDISH BANDITS (Amazon Prime Video)

BEST FEMALE SUPPORTING ACTOR: RASIKA DUGAL – MIRZAPUR 2 (Amazon Prime Video)

BEST STORY: CHANDAN KUMAR – PANCHAYAT (Amazon Prime Video)

BEST SCREENPLAY: SUDIP SHARMA, GUNJIT CHOPRA, SAGAR HAVELI – PAATAL LOK (Amazon Prime Video)

BEST DIALOGUE: SAURAV DEY, SUMIT PUROHIT, VAIBHAV VISHAL, KARAN VYAS – SCAM 1992: THE HARSHAD MEHTA STORY (SonyLIV)

BEST MUSIC SCORE: EHSAAN-SHANKAR-LOY – BANDISH BANDITS (Amazon Prime Video)

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE: ADVAIT NEMLEKAR –SPECIAL OPS (Disney+Hotstar)

BEST PHOTOGRAPHY:  AVINASH ARUN and SURABH GOSWAMI -- PAATAL LOK (Amazon Prime Video)

BEST EDITOR: SANYUKTA KAZA - PAATAL LOK (Amazon Prime Video)

BEST SOUND DESIGN: VINIT D’SOUZA and BOLOY KUMAR DOLOI -- PAATAL LOK (Amazon Prime Video)  

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: RAJNEESH HEDAO - THE FORGOTTEN ARMY:  AZAADI KE LIYE  (Amazon Prime Video) 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: AYESHA KHANNA – THE FORGOTTEN ARMY: AZAADI KE LIYE (Amazon Prime Video)