Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan win top awards.
By Prabhav Hiremath
MUMBAI: The 20th edition of Annual Life OK Screen Awards, the first of the Bollywood film award ceremonies of the year, was a star-studded affair with many big names from the film fraternity attending to honour the best and brightest of the industry, at the Bandra Kurla Complex here.
The award was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Manish Tewari, the minister of information and broadcasting, who spoke on a host of critical issues facing the industry: a single window clearance for film making, overhauling the Cinematograph Act – 1952, giving nod to the Rs. 600 crore National Film Heritage Mission and inauguration of The Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai.
The stage was later taken over by the Baadshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, who regaled the audience with his irrepressible humor. It was followed by a rap performance by Bollywood’s hit newbie, Yo Yo Honey Singh, with his latest offering ‘Blue Eyes’ mesmerizing everyone.
Director Anand Gandhi received the Jury award for his debut directorial venture ‘The Ship of Theseus’ and its female lead, Aida El Kashif, was honoured with best debutant female. Another independent cinema, ‘The Lunchbox’ which received accolades from across the globe, was in the limelight too. The film’s director Ritesh Batra was awarded with the Most Promising Debut Director. The gorgeous Swara Bhaskar of ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ fame was honored with Best Supporting Actress award for her role as Bindiya in Raanjhana. The Best Supporting Actor (male) went to Saurabh Shukla for his role as Justice Tripathi in ‘Jolly LLB.”
The awards in the writing category too saw some unique names. If Hansal Mehta, Apurva Asrani and Sameer Gautam Singh grabbed the award for Best Dialogues for ‘Shahid’, the Best Story award was taken by New York based Mohan Sikka, the writer of the ‘The Railway Aunty’ which was adapted for the film ‘B. A. Pass’. On the singing front, writer Swananad Kirkire bagged the award for Best Lyricist for his song ‘Manjha’ from ‘Kai Po Che’.
A unique felicitation was made in the film business section to Ronnie Srewvala, the founder and CEO of UTV group. He was honored with an award titled ‘Outstanding Contribution’ for his excellence in bringing up his business empire by producing and distributing not only big budget Hindi films but by considering even small ones in regional cinema.
The Best Director Award was given to Shoojit Sircar, a man who showed India and the world a courageous film based on recent brutal killings in Sri Lanka. The next big award was showered on Bollywood’s Shehenshah, Amitabh Bachchan, with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Shatrughan Sinha and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. While announcing to come on stage, SRK called Mr. Bachchan in the latter’s own dialogue – ‘Rishtey mai toh who sab ke baap lagtey hain.’
The event’s last set of awards were the biggest and the most awaited ones in the categories of best film, best actor and best actress. The Best Film Award was given to ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Its lead actor Farhan Akhtar walked away with the Best Actor Award (Jury). Bangalorean beauty Deepika Padukone bagged the Best Actress Award for ‘Chennai Express’ who also was nominated and awarded for ‘Goliyon Ki Rasleela – Ramleela.’ And the daddy of all, the Best Actor Award went to none other than King Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, for Chennai Express.
The show concluded with a gripping performance by Deepika on ‘Nagada’, a track from Ramleela.
To contact the author, email to editor@americanbazaaronline.com