BAFTA has done Lata Mangeshkar no favour, Joanna Scanlan is the real beneficiary-Sports News , Firstpost

I don’t know why we must kneel over with gratitude for the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) to have acknowledged the passing away of Lata Mangeshkar. She is by far the most talented singer and one of the most accomplished artistes from the beginning to the end of civilization.

So, Lataji honoured the BAFTA by her presence and not vice versa and also the honour was laughably sketchy.  “Her film credits list is vast, but notable songs featured in Anamika (1973), Aasha (1980), Dil Se (1998) and Rang De Basanti (2006).” Really?  From the thousands of classics that she lent her throat to, this is all BAFTA could come up with? Weirdly Lataji sang only one song each in Anamika, Dil Se and Rang De Basanti. There are scores of soundtracks where she has sung virtually all the songs. But thank you BAFTA for letting the world know about Lataji’s existence. The lady who really needed to be acknowledged was Joanna Scanlan, the British actress whose stunning performance in After Love left me dazzled and devastated.  Playing the British widow of a Muslim man whom she literally loved to death only to discover that he has a secret second-family not far away from her own domestic jannat, Scanlan gave a   rare refined and gut-ripping performance.

I knew she wouldn’t get an Oscar nod. The role is not politically correct. I mean, a British actress in a hijab?  Also, Joanna Scanlan is not a glamorous hottie. She is plump and plain. She would pass off as any housewife in the London suburbia buying groceries for her family. That is what makes her so special.  It is her ordinariness that makes her so extraordinary.

In the fabulous After Love Scanlan is a revelation from behind the hijab. The Oscars will ignore her. She   just wouldn’t make good television walking up that ramp to collect her well-earned trophy. Joanna Scanlan started her career in acting pretty late in her life. She was 34 when she did her first role in the series Peak Practice as a nurse. Success and recognition were hard to come by since she didn’t fit the conventional mould. It is only with her stellar presence as a wronged wife in After Love that the world has stood up to ask who Joanna Scanlan is. Well, better late than never, just enjoy the belated stardom, Joanna. You deserve it.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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