News18.com announces the second edition of REEL Movie Awards

News18.com, India’s preeminent news portal, proudly announces the second edition of its marquee property REEL Movie Awards 2019. The event will be held on 26th March 2019 at Sahara Star, Mumbai.

REEL Movie Awards debuted last year and established itself firmly as a distinctive platform that celebrates the collective achievement of content-driven cinema. It seeks to spot and honour exemplary artists who disrupted the industry, charting a new course for Indian cinema.

This year the awards will focus on movies and artistes who touched the audience’s heart with unique and innovative storytelling. Speaking about the awards, Rajeev Masand, Film Critic & Jury Moderator for REEL said, “The year 2018 was a landmark year for Bollywood. It witnessed the audience taking the reins back in their hands and validating stories with solid storylines instead of clichéd content with big star casts. These are interesting times as the industry and audience is becoming more receptive for cinema that challenges the status quo and looks beyond starpower and big budgets.”

Capturing the essence of new age cinema, the categories for the award will cover every aspect of cinema broadly under ‘On Screen’ and ‘Behind The Scenes,’ Awards. While the nominations for all the categories have just been announced, winners will be selected by the Jury as well as the audience via online voting on News18.com/vote. Dominating the categories Tabu and Ayushmann Khurana starrer, Sriram Raghavan’s “AndhaDhun” stands out with 10 nominations across categories. Amar Kaushik’s maiden feature film “Stree” starring Shraddha Kapoor and Raj Kumar Rao runs close with Anurag Kashyap’s “Manmarziyaan” with 6 and 8 nominations respectively.

Expressing his views on the upcoming awards, Azim Lalani, Business Head, English General News Cluster, Network18 said, “We have seen a growing interest in quality cinema among Indian audiences with a shift in their preferences. New age cinema is growing and delivering quality stories that offer a brilliant cinematic experience. Standing true to our belief, we will continue to celebrate excellence in outstanding cinema.”

News18.com has crafted a niche for itself in the crowded digital space for entertainment writing. “From film reviews to trending stories, our focus is not to chase traffic but do quality journalism. We are happy to have shown the world that there is a sizeable audience for original reportage. REEL Movie Awards is testimony of our belief in the power of content and ideas,” said Praveen Thampi, Executive Editor, News18.com.