20th Filmfare Awards

Rajesh Khanna received dual nominations for Best Actor for his performances in Amar Prem and Dushmun, but lost to Manoj Kumar who won the award for Be-Imaan.

At the ceremony, Meena Kumari earned a then record-setting twelfth and final nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in the period musical romantic drama Pakeezah after her death in March 1972.

Pran, who won Best Supporting Actor for Be-Imaan refused to accept the award, on the grounds that the Best Music Director award should have gone to Ghulam Mohammed for Pakeezah, and not Shankar-Jaikishan for Be-Imaan.

Filmfare, however, defended their decision by stating that according to their rules, posthumous awards were not allowed then;[3] Filmfare's editor B. K. Karanjia said both Ghulam Mohammad (the music director of Pakeezah) and Josef Wirsching (cinematographer) lost for the same reason.

[4] Years later, in an interview, veteran actress Rakhee Gulzar revealed that initially she was offered the award for Best actress which she declined, as she considered her performance to be mediocre as earlier, she was devoid of the award for her performance in Sharmilee.