Bollywood at 'Third Asian Film Awards'

Hong Kong’s entered its 100th year of movie-making. To mark the year, the 3rd Asian Film Awards were organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society. The award ceremony was held at Hong Kong on 23rd March. Michelle Yeoh was the president of the jury that decided the awards.

Japanese films walked away with awards in five of the 13 categories. Tokyo Sonata, a story that portrays the breakdown of a Japanese family after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company, was awarded Best film. Tokyo Sonata also received the best screenwriter award for its screenwriter trio of Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Max Mannix and Tanaka Sachiko from Japan, The Netherlands and Hong Kong respectively.

Hirokazu won the best director award for his Still Walking, a film about a family commemorating the drowning of one of its family members. Oscar award winning film (Best foreign language film) Departures lead star Motoki Masahiro was awarded Best Actor for his performance in the film. In the film Motoki plays a cellist who works in a funeral parlor business after his orchestra is dissolved. India’s Akhsay Kumar was among the nominees for this category for his performance in the Hindi super-hit film Singh is Kinng.

Japan’s Hisaishi Joe won the award for the best composer for his music composition for Ponyo on the Cliff. India’s AR Rahman composition for Jodha Akbar among other’s had also been nominated for this category.

Zhou Xun won the best actress award for the mainland Chinese film The Equation of Love and Death. India’s Deepika Podukone was also in the reckoning for this category for her performance in Chandni Chowk to China.

India’s Nitin Chandrasekhar was one of the nominees for best production designer award for Jodha Akbar. The award was won by Daniel Yan-kong Lee for Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon.

The Nielsen Box Office award was bestowed upon India’s ace bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra . Priyanka looked stunning in a traditional white saree designed by Manish Malhotra especially for the occasion.

The Edward Yang New Talent Award was conferred on Taiwanese director Wei Te-Sheng . Hong Kong director Tsui Hark and his wife Shi Nansun were presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Asia Cinema award.

Awards for the other categories went to:

Best Newcomer – Mainland China’s Yu Shaoqun (Forever Enthralled);
Best Supporting Actor – South Korean Jung Woo-sung (The Good, the Bad,
the Weird);
Best Supporting Actress – Filipino Gina Pareno (Service);
Best Cinematographer Europe’s Jola Dylewska (Tulpan) ;
Best Editor South Korea’s Kim Sun-min (The Chaser);
Best Visual Effects – Craig Hayes from the Chinese mainland (Red Cliff).

The noted ceremony was hosted by VJ and MC Derek Li, Monaco born Hong Kong’s top model Lisa S and character actor Terence Yin. The awards ceremony was tastefully inter-spaced with audio visuals and performances by Justin Lo and Alan, among others.