Let’s drop the pretence. Most art awards in India are a joke. Not about merit, not about vision—just about who knows who. Favouritism runs deep. Groupism masks itself as curatorial alignment. And the whole thing is rigged from the start.
Shortlists read like WhatsApp group rosters. Winners are decided in closed rooms by insiders patting each other on the back. Criteria? Vague. Process? Opaque. Accountability? Zero.
Emerging talent gets sidelined. Real risk-takers are ignored. Meanwhile, the same faces keep recycling through the system, feeding an ecosystem that’s more about validation than value.
Awards could’ve been a platform. They’ve become theatre. And not even good theatre.
Until there’s transparency, until selection panels are independent, until feedback is public, these awards will keep serving everything except the artist.