Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sushmita Sen-starrer ‘Aarya’ and stand-up comedian Vir Das were among the several nominees vying for the International Emmy Awards 2021, held in New York City on Monday night, but none were able to take home the honour.
While it was a moment of pride for the trip to represent India at the prestigious awards ceremony, all three missed out on the top spot in their respective categories.
Siddiqui was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in ‘Serious Men’ but lost out to Scottish actor David Tennant for ‘Des’.
Directed by Sudhir Mishra, ‘Serious Men’, which is available to watch on Netflix, is an adaptation of author Manu Joseph’s 2010 novel of the same name. It focuses on the story of an ambitious underachiever who capitalises on his son’s newfound fame as a boy-genius to improve his family’s fortunes.
Das, who was recently embroiled in a controversy over his ‘I come from two Indias’ act at the Kennedy Center in Washington, was nominated for the Netflix comedy special ‘Vir Das: For India’. However, he lost out in the Best Comedy category to the popular French show ‘Call My Agent!’.
Sen’s ‘Aarya’, a Disney+ Hotstar series helmed by Ram Madhvani, was nominated in the Best Drama Series category. However, the Emmy was bagged by Israel’s ‘Tehran’ that features on AppleTV Plus.
‘Aarya’ is an official remake of the popular Dutch crime drama ‘Penoza’. The Indian adaptation revolves around Aarya Sareen (Sushmita) who is a caring mother and a loving wife. She is unaware of the illegal business her family is a part of but is dragged into the mess when her husband Tej Sareen (Chandrachur Singh), a pharma baron, is mysteriously killed. The second season of the show is expected to be released soon.
Both Das and Siddiqui attended the in-person awards ceremony in New York, as did ‘Aarya’ director Ram Madhvani.
Das expressed his honour to represent India at the event while expressing delight to receive a medal for nomination and his delicious salad.
Taking to his Instagram handle on Monday, he shared pictures of his medal and meal while writing: “I was nominated for best comedy at the International Emmy Awards, for jokes. Call My Agent, a gigantic beautiful show I love won. But I got this medal, and ate this fantastic salad with a very interesting crispy cheese topping. It was an honour to represent my country. Thanks so much to the @iemmys For India. It’s always for India. #VirDasForIndia.”
The three nominations from India come after previously registering a strong performance at the 48th International Emmy Awards with filmmaker Richie Mehta’s ‘Delhi Crime’ winning the best drama series honour in November 2020.
Organised by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the International Emmys aim at recognising excellence in television produced outside of the US. The nominations for 2021 were announced in September.
