Ramesh Sippy,
chairperson
* Judging films made by friends is always a difficult task because in a few hours of deliberation one has to decide who the winner is and who is not. As a chairperson, and with seven members on the panel with individual mindsets, votes were taken only in case of a deadlock. We had healthy discussions, sans any flaring of tempers. I have to say that I’m not one hundred per cent happy with the decisions, similarly someone else may feel the same. But it was a collective jury and we made it a point to understand the other person’s point of view. I tried to see that no aspect was left out as far as possible and we came to a consensus to give a collective judgement. I assure you that we did our job passionately and fairly.

Amol Palekar,
actor/ filmmaker
* I expected the Screen award function to have class and dignity but sadly this time it was lacking. Farah Khan talking about RK Laxman whose work is clean, full of dignity and class, is ironic.

Rajkumar Hirani,
filmmaker
* Clearly 2008 was the year of the small big film. Film like A Wednesday, Rock On!!, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Dasvidanya and many others brought to the fore great talent and opened up space for diverse makers and actors with people willing to push boundaries. More than big numbers and budgets, the script was the clear winner and that according to me that was the defining factor of 2008.

Uday Singh,
executive vice president, Columbia TriStar
* Though this is not the first time that I was on the panel of jury for judging films, this was my first time with Screen. It was a very good experience as there were members from various backgrounds and we had healthy debates. Dilemmas were seen only when selecting the major categories like Best Film, Director and Actor (both Male and Female) as some very good films hit the screens this year. But we had a very fair voting method that was very congenial.

MARATHI
Vijay Kondke,
chairperson
* Since there are only four awards given for Marathi films, it was not a very difficult task and we decided to award as many films as possible. We are happy with our decision, but I would like to suggest that more categories should be introduced for Marathi films as technically they are progressing brilliantly. What I like about the Screen awards is that the secrecy of the winner is maintained till the end.