Jodha Akbar sweeps away IIFA 2009

Complete Slumdog style, Ashutosh Gowariker's historical romance "Jodhaa Akbar" swept the International Indian Film Acadmey (IIFA) awards 2009 here Saturday with a perfect 10 bag of trophies, being named the best film and fetching its male lead Hrithik Roshan the best actor award and Ashutosh Gowariker the best director award.
Priyanka Chopra was named the best actress for portrayal of a an ambitious model in " Fashion ".

Kangana Ranaut walked with the the award for the best female in a supporting role for her performance as a down-in-the-dumps model in " Fashion ", while Arjun Rampal won the award for best male actor in a supporting role trophy for playing an unsuccessful and brooding musician in " Rock On! "
Abhishek Bachchan got the best comic actor for his performance in " Dostana " and immediately dedicated it to wife Aishwarya Rai and Amar Singh ji...strange!

The award for best actor in a negative role went to Akshaye Khanna for " Race ". Anil Kapoor received the award as Akshay had to leave for some personal work. Neeraj Pandey was given IIFA best story award for his critically acclaimed " A Wednesday ".

" Lagaan " was declared the best movie of the decade, veteran Rajesh Khanna was given the lifetime achievement award, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai were respectively declared the male and female actors of the decade, Rakesh Roshan was named director of the decade and double Oscar-winning A.R. Rahman was honoured with the composer of the decade
award.

This set of honours were meant to commemorate 10 years of IIFA awards.

Rahman was also named the best music director for his soulful compositions in " Jodhaa Akbar ". The music maestro couldn't attend the event and Gowariker received the award on his behalf.

The best male playback singer award went to Javed Ali for crooning " Jashn-e-bahaara " in " Jodhaa Akbar ", while Shreya Ghoshal was named the best female playback singer for " Teri ore " in hit romantic comedy " Singh is Kinng ".

Well-known Bollywood writer Javed Akhtar won the best lyricist award for penning the song " Jashn-e-bahaara " for " Jodhaa Akbar ".

Aishwarya was also honoured with a special award for an outstanding achievement in international cinema.

Farhan Akhtar got the best male debutant of the year award for " Rock On !", while Asin Thottumkal got best female debut award for action thriller " Ghajini ".

" Jodhaa Akbar " bagged the maximum technical awards at IIFA.


The best cinematography award went to Jason West for "Rock On!" and the best choreography award went to Farah Khan for the song " Desi girl " in " Dostana ".While ace designer Neeta Lulla walked away with the best costume design award for " Jodhaa Akbar ", best editing trophy went to Ballu Saluja and best art direction to Nitin Chandrakant Desai for the Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai starrer historical romance. Best Make Up award went to Madhav Kadam for the same film.


Among the winners in the technical category, Farah and Jason were not present at the event. Resul Pokkutty , who made history by winning an Oscar for his work in "Slumdog Millionaire", bagged sound recording trophy for Aamir Khan starrer " Ghajini ".

Filmfare Best Films 2005-2009

2005 Veer-Zaara - Yash Raj Films - Yash Chopra, Aditya Chopra
The top-grossing Bollywood film of the year was a winner at both the Indian and the international box office, earning over Rs. 750 million worldwide, in addition to being showcased at numerous prominent film festivals around the world. The music of the film, based on old compositions by the late Madan Mohan with lyrics by Javed Akhtar, was the highlight of the film. Upon its theatrical release, Veer-Zaara received mostly positive reviews from critics.




2006 Black - SLB Films - Sanjay Leela Bhansali
This Indian film in Hindi and English was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Black revolved around a blind, deaf and mute girl, and her relationship with her teacher who himself later suffers from Alzheimer's disease. The first half of the film is an adaptation of Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life.This is a must see movie and is placed in the best works of Bollywood.

2007 Rang De Basanti - UTV Motion Pictures / Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures - Ronnie Screwvala, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Made on a budget of Rs. 250 million (US$5.5 million), the filming was completed in and around New Delhi.The film's release faced stiff resistance from the Indian Defence Ministry and the Animal Welfare Board due to parts of the film that depicted the use of MiG-21 fighter aircraft and a banned Indian horse race respectively.Along with a gross revenue of Rs. 1.36 billion (approximately US$30 million) at the box office making it one of the highest grossing films in the Bollywood since the year 2000, it had the highest-selling DVD title sales of its time.



2008 Taare Zameen Par - Aamir Khan Productions - Aamir Khan
The film tells the story of eight year old Ishaan (Darsheel Safary) who suffers greatly until a teacher (Aamir Khan) identifies him as dyslexic. Both commercially and critically acclaimed,Taare Zameen Par is the winner of the 2008 Filmfare Best Movie Award. It was declared tax free by the Government of Delhi.



2009 Jodhaa Akbar - UTV Motion Pictures / Ashutosh Gowariker Productions - Ronnie Screwvala, Ashutosh Gowariker
The film centers around the romance between the Muslim Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great, played by Hrithik Roshan, and his Hindu wife Jodhabai, played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The music is composed by acclaimed music composer A. R. Rahman. The love story was divine and film shot beautifully.

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.