Nandi Awards was the highest award ceremony for excellence in Telugu cinema and Television by the Government of United Andra Pradesh. The first Nandi awards ceremony was conducted in 1965 and the awards were given away to the actors and technicians of the films released in 1964. The last awards were given away to the films released in 2011.
Nandi awards, however, received huge criticism from all corners as the committees appointed were gossiped to have been indulged in wrong choice of awarding to the actors and technicians. Financial and political factors played vital role in the selection of the candidates for conferring awards. More shockingly, close relatives of some of the crazy actors would also hold the responsibilities in key positions of the award committees. As such, some of the undeserved stars were opted for best awards. Especially, 2009's awards were lambasted by the critics and movie lovers.
Fortunately, Nandi awards were sidelined by the governments due to state division and criticisms on the award selections. And now, the Telangana government has reportedly decided to replace Nandi awards with 'Simha' awards. A committee was also formed to design the structure and strategy for awarding the movies. Entire film fraternity and movie lovers are appealing the Telangana government to maintain transparency in appointing the award committees. " Corruption, political influence and caste factors should also be kept away. Title of the proposed awards needs to be changed and it should reflect the cultures and traditions of Telangana," suggests a movie buff. If at all everything goes smooth, The award event will get launched in the next year itself. Let's hope for the best.