The awards for the International Indian Film Academy were given out Saturday night at a spectacular event that closed the IIFA weekend. The stars were out and looking gorgeous as they arrived at the Sheffield Hallam FM Arena and walked down the green carpet (green instead of red to highlight the environment and environmental issues). Many of the brightest Bollywood stars were there including Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu, Akshaye Khanna, Akshay Kumar, Lara Data, Preity Zinta and the handsome Hrithik Roshan to name a few.
The night was attended by 10,000 fans and will be seen by millions more, when it is aired on Star Plus later in the month. The audience was treated to 4 hours of non-stop entertainment that showcased what makes Bollywood so magical and special. Boman Irani and Lara Data hosted the awards and many of the performances brought the audience to their feet. Among the performances, some of the highlights were lavish and outstanding dance performances by Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu, Shilpa Shetty, Lara Dutta as well as Emraan Hashmi and Aftab Shivdasani. And during one of his performances Amitabh joined Abhishek on stage to loads of applause.
Shilpa Shetty got one of the biggest receptions and was cheered on for her performances to ‘Crazy Kiya Re’ and ‘Main Sadke Jawan’. Shetty was also honoured with an award given to her by Cricket legend Geoffrey Boycott on behalf of local authorities for her poise on the British reality television shows “Celebrity Big Brother”.
Akshay Kumar later brought the house down with his energetic performance to Punjabi numbers such as ‘Rabba, Rabba’ and ‘Aja Mahi’.
But the biggest cheers of the night were given to Hrithik Roshan who won best actor for his role in Krrish. “May our children never be afraid to dream the impossible because … someone like me could get this far,” said Roshan in his acceptance speech.
The award for Best Actress was given to Rani Mukerji for her role in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and was accepted on her behalf by Karan Johar, the director of KANK.
Dhoom 2 took home two awards: J. A. James won Best Make-up for all the different get-up’s he created for Hrithik’s Mr. A and Anita Shroff Adajania bagged the Best Costume award for her stylish costumes.
Some of the other awards handed out were: Best Playback (Female) Sunidhi Chauhan – Beedi (Omkara), Best Playback (Male) Shaan – Chand Sifarish (Fanaa) and Best Lyrics – Prasoon Joshi – Chand Sifarish (Fanaa). The Best Debut (Female) was Kangana Ranaut and Best Debut (Male) went to Upen Patel.
Tusshar Kapoor was honored for his hysterical role in Golmaal with the Best Actor in a Comic Role.
The Best Actor in a Negative Role went to Saif Ali Khan for his critically applauded role in Omkara.
The night also held some special awards and one of them was presented to Dharmendra. The film-star-turned-politician who has starred in more than 200 Hindi films since the early 1960s was given the Outstanding Achievement Award. “My wife has always described him as the perfect Greek god,” said Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan in tribute to Dharmendra. “He is the most wonderful friend and the most wonderful man you could ever come across.”
Deepa Mehta was honored with the Brightest Indian Director Abroad Award for her contributions to the film industry. Also honoured were Basu Chaterjee with the Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award and Vishal Bhardwaj was presented with the Best Cinematic Contribution for literary work for his outstanding and critically lauded Omkara an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. The night also included recognition for Director Rakesh Roshan who was given the Creative Person of the Year Award for Krrish.
To round out the evening Hrithik Roshan & Aishwarya Rai were given the titles of Most Glamorous Stars of the Year.
Two of the most popular and universally loved films of the last year, Rang De Basanti and Lage Raho Munnabhai, were the two biggest winners of the night.
Lage Raho Munnabhai won Best Story – Hirani, Best Dialogue – Hirani and Abhijit Joshi, and Arshad Warsi won Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male).
Rang De Basanti took home the most awards including: Best Screenplay – Rensil D’Silva & Rakesh Mehra, Best Music Direction – A.R. Rahman, the Best Editor award went to P. S. Bharti, and Soha Ali Khan won for her amazing portrayal as Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Rang De Basanti also took home the one of the most coveted award; Best Film while, Lage Raho Munnabhai bagged the Best Director award for Rajkumar Hirani.
The night was an amazing celebration of all things Bollywood with spectacular dance routines, great music, bright lights, amazing costumes and of course all the glittering stars. We congratulate all the winners and look forward to what next year will bring.
