IIFA Awards 2009's countdown has begun

The Film Industry is excited and feeling the IIFA fever. Each year industry actors, directors, producers, technicians, composers and behind the scenes communities cast their votes, which would decide the nominations for the main awards. The Industry is invited to cast their votes and shortlist nominations in the category of the Popular Awards.

The 6th, 7th and 8th of March marked the 10th year of IIFA's Voting Weekend, where Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, the IIFA Brand Ambassador will cast the first vote as he does each year to initiate proceedings. The IIFA Voting process is a methodical procedure that is closely monitored by the official auditors for the event. The popular category nominations will be put online so that the global audience can also participate in the voting process. Around a thousand people on average from the film industry come in each year to vote at the Weekend.

Manmohan Shetty, Producer and IIFA Advisory Board member said that IIFA has grown into an event of repute over the last 9 years. This year, being the 10th year of IIFA, the celebrations will be bigger! At the IIFA Voting Weekend is the only Awards where the entire film Industry comes to vote.

Farhan Akthar said that he have visited the IIFA's before and is extremely hopeful that ROCK ON will be nominated for the tenth year IIFA Awards.
David Dhavan stated that he had also cast his vote for IIFA several times and will be doing same for this year as well for the biggest IIFA so far.

54th Idea Filmfare Awards

It was a night to forget differences and bond together to celebrate and reward a year of hard work as the who’s who of the film industry – including Shahrukh Khan , who still has his arm in a sling – gathered together at Mumbai’s Yashraj Studios. Interestingly, SRK and Gauri Khan took seat next to the Bachchans . Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor sat with Rekha .

THE HOSTS:



Hosts Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan rocked the night with their wit, humour and chutzpah. Imran mimicked mamu Aamir Khan by going bare-chest in the Ghajini style and writing the awards on his chest. Ranbir spoofed SRK’s act from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

The two young hosts also argued about who among them would be the next superstar. Ranbir told Imran: “Bura mat manna, lekin log tera naam sun kar Aamir Khan ke baare mein sochte hain”. To which Imran replied: “aur tera naam soch kar Sonam Kapoor ke baare mein sochte hain”. Even as the two stars argued, Darsheel Safary ( Taare Zameen Par ) emerged on stage and proclaimed himself as the next superstar.

Segments of the show were also hosted by Karan Johar , Konkona Sen Sharma and Deepika Padukone .


PERFORMANCES:



The most sterling performance of the evening came from Farhan Akhtar , who sang rock numbers from his film Rock On . Katrina Kaif performed to a medley of her songs while Neil Nitin Mukesh took the stage with Bipasha Basu. Shahid Kapur impressed with his energetic dance performance; Abhishek Bachchan was cool-as-a-cucumber as he got jiggy with a bunch of babes on the tunes of “Maa Da Ladla”.

EMOTIONAL MOMENTS:

The most emotional moment of the night was when Arjun Rampal accepted the award for the Best Supporting actor for his performance in ‘Rock On’. Overwhelmed by emotion, the actor choked on his words and broke down.

Another charged up moment was when Shahrukh Khan took the stage and raved about the success of Slumdog Millionaire and particularly of A R Rahman and Resul Pookutty at the Oscars. Rahman was present at the function with a few kid stars of ‘Slumdog’.

The evening itself began on a patriotic note with the playing of the National Anthem.

Stardust Awards Night 2009

The Stardust Awards Night 2009 was held at Bandra MMRDA grounds, Mumbai, on Feb 15. The show was hosted by Tusshar Kapoor and Minissha Lamba, and was attended by most if not all the Bollywood's fraternity.

The award nite featured performances by Salman Khan , Anil Kapoor, Ameesha Patel , Priyanka Chopra and Minissha Lamba.

Amitabh Bachchan , who has completed 40 years in Bollywood, was given the lifetime achievement award, while Saif and Kareena walked away with the award for "the most stylish B'wood couple".

The complete list of the Max Stardust awards winners:

Superstar of Tomorrow - Male: Farhan Akhtar ("Rock On!")
Superstar of Tomorrow - Female: Asin ("Ghajini")
Hottest New Filmmaker: A.R. Murugadoss ("Ghajini")

Hottest New Film: Ghajini

Breakthrough Performance - Male: Prateik Babba r ("Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na")

Breakthrough Performance - Female: Manjari Phadnis ("Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na")

Standout Performance by a music director: Dhruv Ghanekar ("Drona")

Standout Performance by a Lyricist: Kausar Munir ("Falak tak chal"/"Tashan")

New Musical Sensation - Male: Benny Dayal ("Pappu can’t dance saala”/“Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na”)

New Musical Sensation - Female: Anmol Malik (“Talli”/“Ugly Aur Pagli”)

Exciting New Face: Shriya Saran (“Mission Istanbul”)

The New Menace: Nikitin Dheer (“Jodhaa Akbar”)

Editor’s choice award for most promising director: Abhishek Kapoor (“Rock On!”)

Outstanding contribution to Indian cinema: Dev Anand

Pride of the industry: Feroz Khan

Special award to Anil Kapoor: For being the first mainstream Indian actor to take India to Hollywood and winning global recognition

Stardust Searchlight awards winners:

Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchan (The Last Lear)

Best Actress: Amrita Rao (“Welcome To Sajjanpur”)

Best Film: A Wednesday (Anjum Rizvi)

Best Director: Neeraj Pandey (“A Wednesday”)

Reader’s choice awards

Star of the year - Male: Hrithik Roshan (“Jodhaa Akbar”)

Star of the year - Female: Priyanka Chopra (“ Fashion”)

Dream Director: Ashutosh Gowariker (“Jodhaa Akbar”)

Best Film: Singh is Kingg (Akshay Kumar and Vipul Shah)

Best actor in a supporting role: Tusshar Kapoor (“Golmaal Returns”)

Best Actress in a supporting role: Kangana Ranaut (“Fashion”)

Best Actor in a negative role: Anil Kapoor (“Tashan”)

Style Icon of the year - Male: Saif Ali Khan

Style Icon of the year - Female: Kareena Kapoor