National Awards, delayed but not denied

The National awards seem extraordinarily Alzheimer-friendly this year. Two portrayals of that terrible disease of memory loss by Amitabh Bachchan in Black and Anupam Kher in Maine Gandhi No Nahin Mara got lavish recognition. Ironically the honour came a year late when people had almost forgotten the judicially -challenged 53rd National awards for the year 2005. It almost feels like sweet revenge. In the same week that Anil Kapoor released his Gandhi film, Anupam Kher won the special Jury's award for his performance as the demented Gandhian in Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara. It was Kher's decision to do his own Gandhi film which ousted him from the Mahatma