Society » Cinema » The 7th IIFA festival….

Ramesh and Sippy

Rani

Rishi Kapoor

Rosa and Saif

Salman Khan

Shilpa and Jean Claude

Sunil Shetty with son

Urmila and Jean Claude

Anand Raj

Anil Kapoor

Ashok Amritraj

Amitabh Bachchan

Gul Panag

Feroz Khan

Konkoan and Ayesha

P.Vasu, Amitabh and Prabhu

Mammooty

Maria , Arshad, and son

Nazruddin Shah

Priety Zinta

The 7th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA)festival concluded in Dubai with a dazzling, all-star awards ceremony featuring performances and appearances from some of the hottest stars in the Indian film industry at the Dubai Airport Expo.

In the other major award categories, best supporting actor went to Abishek Bachchan for his performance in Ram Gopal Varma’s film Sarkar, best actor in a negative role to veteran actor Nana Patekar for his role in Apharan, best actor in a comic role to Javed Jaffrey for Salaam Namaste, and the award for best story to filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor for Iqbal, a sensitive portrayal of a deaf-mute villager’s quest to make it big in cricket.

The film Bunty Aur Babli also did well at the awards night, bagging honors for best playback singer (Female) for Alisha Chinai and best lyricist for the well-known artiste Gulzar. Composer-turned-singer Himesh Reshammiya took home the best playback singer (Male) trophy for chartbuster Aashiq Banaya Aapne from the movie of the same name. Other winners included Vidya Balan from Parineeta and Shiney Ahuja from Hazaaron Khwahishen Aisi for best debut.

The IIFA Lifetime Achievement awards went to veteran actress Asha Parek and filmmaker O P Dutta, with Hollywood-based Indian producer Ashok Amritraj receiving a special honor for his contribution towards promoting Indian cinema abroad.

Among the highlights of the star-studded evening were live performances by several Bollywood stars including Preity Zinta and Hrithik Roshan.

The IIFA's awards festival, which has become India's equivelant of the Oscars, brought to Dubai a number of colourful Indian shows to entertain the thousands of fans who could afford to pay the entry fees.

The huge hall was packed with Indian fans. But hundreds of low-paid Indian fans, who were unable to buy entry tickets, gathered on the way leading to the hall braving extreme humidity and heat.

The star-studded event also witnessed the unveiling of next year’s IIFA Weekend destination: the Yorkshire region of Britain. The ‘Yorkshire – Love at First Sight’ campaign beat off stiff competition from destinations around the world, including New York.

Dubai is the sixth city to host the event after London, Sun City, South Africa, Genting Highlands, Malaysia, Johannesburg, South Africa, Singapore and Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, The IIFA Foundation Fashion Extravaganza, hosted as part of the IIFA Weekend in Dubai, raise $75,000 for the IIFA Foundation, which supports families of behind-the-scenes industry workers who have been injured or worse during the making of films.

The black-tie extravaganza at the Dubai World Trade Centre, hosted by Indian stars Dia Mirza and Suneil Shetty, also unveiled designer collections from celebrated Indian designers Manish Malhotra and Vikram Phadnis and modeled by a constellation of Indian models and film stars including Feroz Khan, Sharmukh Dawar and Aisha Takia.

FILM FESTIVAL

The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Film Festival screened 30 Indian commercial and critical films and 5 short films.
It also showcased, for the first time, South Indian films alongside Hindi, Bengali and Marathi cinema.
The 30 feature films, including 14 Hindi, 14 South Indian, 1 Bengali and 1 Marathi film were screened.
Veer Zara, Bunty Aur Babli, Black, Salaam Namaste, Parineeta, Bluffmaster, Page 3, Garam Masala, Iqbal, Mixed Doubles, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Yahaan, Let's Talk and No Entry were the Hindi films.
South Indian films: Malayalam films Rajamanickyam, Thanmatra, Rasathantram, Kaazhch and Tamil films Kannathil Muthamiltal, Nayakan, Pokiri, Autograph, Anniyan, Ayutha Ezhuthu, Gajini, 7G Brundavana Colony, Tagore, and Chandramukhi.
Well known South Indian superstars -Mamooty, Mohanlal, Vikram, Jyothika and Simran were present at the film festival.
Also screened are the Bengali film ‘Antar Mahal’, a real-life picturisation of life in 19th century Bengal and Marathi cinema’s ‘Dombivli Fast’ which revolves around the life of a middle class man struggling against a corrupt system.

AMITHAB’s STATEMENT:

“Dubai is ‘sangam’ of world cultures, said Indian icon Amitabh Bachchan at International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend 2006 opening ceremony.
“Dubai is not just another city, but the meeting point of East and West, entertainment and business, the sangam of the great world cultures,” he added, alluding to the sacred sangam or confluence of India’s two main rivers.
While talking to VAYANA, on the sidelines of the Film Festival Bachchan said : “Contrary to popular opinion, the Hindi film industry is not the largest in the world — the Telugu film industry is,” “Commercially and financially, the Tamil and Telugu film industries are far ahead of Hindi cinema, and I am delighted that the festival is showcasing South Indian films and those from other Indian regions to show the true diversity of Indian cinema.”

While offering felicitations at the IIFA, Mammotty showed his guts.
He said “IIFA is a very good program, we enjoyed it. But Hindi is not the only language in India. There are several other languages which produces best films, but Hindi is always been promoted. Mammootty said that it was quite unfair to call it India International Film Awards as only Bollywood movies were allowed to compete.
“You better call it Indian International Hindi Film Awards. Several wonderful movies are produced in the vernacular languages in India. How can this festival be complete without those movies? He asked.
Don’t think that I am advocating South Indian movies because I too am a part of it. Take any other language; you can find very good movies,” The huge crowd sat stunned but they clapped.
Shabana Aazmi ratified Mammootty’s argument immediately.
Whatsover, Mammootty was speaking the truth. Other superstars in the South may not have the guts to take such a stand.

Tamil film star Prabhu’ Statement:

Prabhu thanked festival coordinators for extending a warm invitation to South Indian film. The actor-producer is appearing at the festival alongside his hit Tamil film “Chandramukhi.” The film’s director P. Vasu was also present at the festival’s inauguration. “We are delighted to be sitting here next to Amitabh Bachchan, and we are thankful for this opportunity to showcase Indian cinema together,” he said.

TECHNICAL AWARDS:

Hindi films Black and Parineeta have bagged awards in most categories.

Black won awards for cinematography, editing, song recording and background score and Parineeta was recognized for makeup & costume, sound recording, art direction and screenplay. Other films applauded in the technical category included Dus, Aashiq Banaya Aapne, Apaharan and Bunty Aur Babli.

The winners include: Cinematography: Ravi Chandran for the movie Black; Screenplay: Vidhu Vinodh Chopra and Pradeep Sarkar for Parineeta; Dialogue: Prakash Jha for Apharan; Editing: Bela Segal for Black; Art direction: Keshto Mondol, Elridge Rodrigues, Tanushree Sarkar and Pradeep Sarkar for Parinee;. Choreogrpah: Vaibhavi Merchant for Bunty Aur Babli, Kajra re; Action: Allan Amin for Dus; Sound recording: Bishwadeep Chatterjee for Parineeta; Sound re-recording: Anup Dev for Black; Song recording: P. Balaraman for Aashiq Banaya Aapne; Special effects: Prime focus for Dus; Background Score: Monty Sharma for Black; Costume designing: Subarna Ray Chaudhari for Prineeta; Make up: Vidhyadhar Bhatte for Prineeta.