Freeze Frame

Hema Malini was grace personified as she walked to the stage to receive her Lifetime Achievement Award. The guests promptly stood up to cheer the Dream Girl. We particularly liked the embellished baby pink saree with silver work, accentuating her complexion. Director Ramesh Sippy, who came with wife Kiran Juneja, also congratulated his Sholay girl.

Directors’ cut

Awards are occasions when the industry gets together. Looked like veteran directors Prakash Jha, Sudhir Mishra and Subhash Ghai  had a lot to catch up on as they were snapped comparing notes in the presenters’ room. In fact Ghai was heard complimenting Jha on his new lean and smart form.

Perfect  host

Ace director Karan Johar hosted a part of the final categories. Johar was his usual articulate self and further hooked the audience who were already entertained by SRK’s antics. However, the time Johar took over, the audience were anxious to hear who would bag the coveted best actor awards.

Mutual admiration

Alia Bhatt  who bagged the Life OK Hero award was all smiles as she greeted Priyanka Chopra who won the  Best Actor award for Mary Kom. We overheard both complimenting each other, Bhatt on Chopra’s brilliant portrayal of boxer Mary Kom and Chopra praising Alia’s performances.

Style icon

She is not called the style icon for nothing. Whether it is the Red Carpet or endorsing products or at her film promotions Sonam Kapoor is always impeccably dressed. So we were hardly surprised when Kapoor turned up, dressed in character from  her film Dolly Ki Doli, in a resplendent deep pink ghagra choli . We also  caught her sharing girlie talk with Malaika Arora Khan who has done a special number in the film.

Mama mia

Rekha definitely looked quite pleased with what Jay Mehta told her, that the diva could not help but pull his chin, while wifey Juhi Chawla who was nominated in the Best Actor in a Negative Role looked on amused. Earlier, Juhi had to drag the reticent hubby to pose with her on the Red Carpet, much to the delight of the shutterbugs.

For old time’s sake

Parikshat Sahni who worked with Tanuja in the 1970 Pavitra Paapi seemed delighted to see his once leading lady. Tanuja who was enjoying the show with daughter Tanishaa Mukerji  got up to greet him. Wonder what they were chatting about?

Lady luck

Director Pradeep Sarkar seemed to be enjoying the proceedings with his wife Panchali. Although Mardaani did not win the best film award, Sarkar was quite elated that it picked up four awards from the 10 it was nominated in.

Second coming

Patralekha was crestfallen when she arrived at the Awards to learn that her category was over and she had won the Most Promising Newcomer (female) trophy. “It’s my first award, I wanted to go up on stage and receive my trophy,” she said almost in tears. She was overhead confiding in beau Rajkummar Rao, that she was stuck in the traffic. She could hardly contain her excitement when, to her surprise, she was called on stage the second time  to receive the award!

Destiny’s child

Alia Bhatt may be only four films old, but the actress has already won the hearts of industry stalwarts. Right from when Bhatt went onstage to collect her award, she captured Deepika Padukone’s attention who was all ears when she made her speech. Shah Rukh Khan who have her the award also praised Bhatt after she spontaneously danced  to Wanna mash up from Highway on his request. The girl’s spirit also impressed Juhi Chawla and Rekha who applauded her whole-heartedly.

Center stage

Vikas Behl was quite the ladies man that day. All actresses, right from the A-listers to the newbies made it a point to come and greet the film-maker. Guess they would have all love to work with him. Let’s see who will be the lucky one!

New wave

Anant Goenka, Wholetime Director and Head — New Media, The Indian Express, lauded Sandeep Verma director of Manjunath and recipient of the Ramnath Goenka Award. “Bravery is contagious,” he said in his speech. Goenka interacted with several celebrities at the event. Here he is seen with actor and film-maker Akbar Khan.

Doting mother

One of the early birds at the event was Meghna Ghai Puri, President of Whistling Woods International Institute. She was accompanied by Aanya, her seven year old daughter. As they left early, Meghna revealed that the child had school and had to be up by six. “She needs to be in bed early. Hence we have to leave the wonderful show mid-way,” she said as she rushed out even as her dad, Subhash Ghai, stayed back to watch the show.

Keeping his word

Though very busy with the sequel to Tanu Weds Manu, Anand Rai made it a point to keep his date with Screen. He was spotted having a gala time at the awards and mingled with the guests. He even bonded with Vineet Kumar Singh who was one of the nominees.

Chivalry talks

If humility had a Bollywood face it would be Rajkumar Hirani. Mumbai traffic played spoilsport and he missed collecting his trophy for Best Dialogue for PK. When he turned up, he  apologised profusely to everyone.  When he got a second chance to go up on stage, he came back and apologised once again. So much so that veteran actor Prem Chopra had to intervene and tell him, “It’s okay. We understand. These things happen.”

Catching up

When two veteran actors meet, they definitely have a lot to talk about. Jeetendra and Prem Chopra were caught in deep conversation in the presenters’ room before the proceedings on the LCD screen had them engrossed.

Bear hug

The dimples on Shah Rukh Khan’s cheeks deepened as Saif Ali Khan unpredictably hugged Khan, taking him by surprise. We heard Saif was quite particular about how much time he had to spend on stage, where he had to stand and how much he had to speak while handing over the trophy to Sajid Nadiadwala. Talk about being meticulous.

Getting tech-savvy

Rekha was quite engrossed by the contents in Anupam Kher’s sleek mobile.Whether Kher was showing her some pictures, or explaining the features in his new gizmo is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain, Rekha seemed very interested.

All ears

Oblivious to the proceedings on the stage, Tabu had both Riteish Deshmukh and Chunky Panday listening to her in rapt attention. Wonder what the trio who seemed to be enjoying each other’s company were discussing?

Good show

Girish Kumar who is busy with his second film after making his debut last year, attended the event with uncle Ramesh Taurani.

Bowled over

Intently watching the scintillating performances were renowned singers Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu who definitely seemed to be very interested. They were even dazzled when singers Jyoti and Sultana Nooran belted Patakha Guddi from Highway.

Time to groove

Shah Rukh Khan was at his usual witty self as he chatted up TV actors Mohsin Khan and Nikita Dutta, the two young actors, who will be soon seen in the upcoming TV show, Dream Girl. He meticulously matched steps with the duo on stage and how!

Saying cheese

Actor Girish Kulkarni, who was nominated in the Best Actor In A Supporting Role for his role in Ugly — his first nomination at Screen, happily posed for the shutterbugs with wife, Vrushali and actor Amrita Subhash who was nominated in the Marathi category for Best Actor (Female) for her film Astu.

Making memories

Actor Harman Baweja was quite elated as his animation film, Chaar Sahibzaade had won the Best Animation award. He was seen bonding with newcomer Mishti Chakraborty and even posed as Mishti’s friend clicked a selfie of the three of them together.

Full circle

Film-maker Madhur Bhandarkar, who was snapped with Evelyn Sharma, was to present the Most Promising Newcomer trophy as his upcoming, Calendar Girls, features newcomers. But traffic snarls delayed him. It happened for the best as he got a chance to present the Best Actor In A Supporting Role award to Tabu. Remember, she was his heroine in Chandni Bar?

Prim n propah

Boys will be boys! While Riteish Deshmukh and Chunky Panday were cracking jokes and bonding with each other, the girls — Aditi Rao Hydari, Sophie Choudry and Pallavi Sharda were the perfect audience. They were applauding the winners. In fact, Choudry who was at another event made it a point to come and sit through a considerable part of the event.

Girl bonding

In an industry where friendships are short-lived, it is always endearing to see actresses bonding. We were witness to Priyanka Chopra, Alia Bhatt and Shraddha Kapoor happily clapping and cheering at the proceedings on stage. When Shahid Kapoor went on stage to receive the Best Jodi Award with Tabu — they played mother-son in Haider — the three showed a keen interest in the unusual jodi and were seen giggling.

Women support

Tiger Shroff’s sister Krishna and mom Ayesha Shroff were extremely excited and eager to rush to their seats, as the young Shroff was performing live for the first time and was even nominated in the Most Promising Newcomer category. They were over the moon when he won the award.

Keen audience

Gauhar Khan looked happy clicking a selfie with a little boy as she sat in the audience, while Mugdha Godse, who always makes sure to attend our Awards, was mesmerised by the show. In fact, the dusky actor looks forward to attending our events.

Happily obliging

Varun Dhawan is a big hit, not only with the girls but with the youngsters as well. At the Awards, he sat with a cute, little girl on his lap and posed for selfies. In fact, even when he came for the rehearsals a day prior to the event, young crew members requested him for selfies.

Devoted father

Anurag Kashyap was proudly introducing his daughter Aliyah to everybody at the event. Aliyah was dropped at the venue by ex-wife Aarti Bajaj. “I had to come in early for the function, so I asked Aarti to bring Aliyah as she was very keen to attend the event and she is really enjoying it,” he confessed.

Chit-chat time

Award ceremonies quite oft turn out to be the best place for catching up with industry folks. Film-maker Subhash Ghai was seen chatting with many of his colleagues from the industry. He lent a keen ear to Anurag Kashyap as newcomer Gurmeet Chaudhary participated in the conversation.

Sans his kids

Resul Pookutty, who was nominated in the Best Sound Design category, usually makes sure to bring his children when he attends our award ceremonies. However, this time around, we spotted Pookutty only with his wife Shadia. It seems because of their exams, the children couldn’t make it!

Eye-catching

It looks like something on stage caught the attention of director Piyush Jha. While he looked mesmerised, writer-director Sanjay Chhel looked a bit amused.

At ease

As the CEO of The Indian Express Group, he may be having many other serious issues to take care of, but when at the Awards, George Varghese, was seen relaxing and talking to the members of the film fraternity. He spent quite some time chatting with seasoned actor Parikshat Sahni.

United we stand!

The entire Marathi fraternity seemed to be united in support of the Marathi films that had an exceptional run last year. Almost all of them — Kishori Shahane Vij, Sonali Kulkarni, Smita and Nitish Bharadwaj and Kiran Shantaram — sat together in the same row to applaud the winners. In fact, actor-film-maker Shahane got her mother to the Awards for the first time. She surely wanted her to know how popular Marathi films are becoming by the day.

Selfie mania

Bonding over a cuppa – that’s how the Marathi film fraternity spent their time in the presenters’ room. Mrinal Kulkarni, who had two nominations, for Best Director and Best Actor (female) was on a merry click-o-mania spree, taking selfies with those present. And when she clicked a selfie with Kajol, Nitish Bharadwaj could not help but pull her leg. Calling her a selfie queen, he told Kajol her picture would be instantly uploaded on her Facebook account. “She is crazy,” he said in jest which had Usha Naik, Kishori Shahane Vij and Prima Chatterjee laughing.

Sporting couple

While South Mumbai residents are generally hesitant to come all the way to the suburbs, adman Kailash Surendranath and wife Arti were only too happy to come and attend the gala night. It speaks volumes about their love for cinema.

Loyal guests

Amongst the first ones, who were prompt to respond to our messages and invites to the show were film-maker Akbar Khan and actor Nikhil Dwivedi. They not only agreed to attend the show, but were also on time and dressed for the event. Both were attired in formal suits and were heard praising the performances on stage.

 

Two’s company

Mary Kom hero Darshan Kumar found himself in the company of Urvashi Rautela, who played the lead in Singh Saab The Great. While the actress seemed to be enjoying the show, it looked like the actor was lost in his thoughts. Obviously so, as he was nominated to two categories.

Fan moment

Anurag Kashyap may have a huge fan following but the maverick film-maker looked quite awestruck by the gorgeous beauties, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone. When the girls came into the presenters’ room with their trophies, Kashyap made sure they click a picture with him together so that he could make ‘everybody jealous’. And the ladies were more than happy to pose for the shutterbugs, even pretending to kiss him. The film-maker even requested us to send him the picture as a keepsake.

Prima donnas

Hema Malini, who was was in a very cheerful mood that day, was seen greeting everyone warmly. But what made for a great moment when she was given a warm hug by current reigning queen of Bollywood, Deepika Padukone.

Security check

The Kolhapure sisters, Padmini and Tejaswini, came in together with nephew, actor Siddhanth Kapoor and Padmini’s young son Priyank. As they walked towards the security check, Tejaswini  moved aside. Glowing happily, she said, ‘You know, why na?’. Obviously the guards at the gate got the hint and allowed the soon-to-be-mother enter through the special entrance.

Colour me bright

Ketan Mehta came to the event sans wife Deepa Sahi. The film-maker graciously posed for pictures and gave sound bytes for the media. He  had two nominations for his film Rang Rasiya but he was seen cheering for other contestants.

Tu Mera Hero

Sabbir Khan, who was shooting in Thailand, made sure to return to Mumbai and attend the show as his hero was performing on stage for the first time. “I cannot miss Tiger’s performance,” said the director who accompanied Kriti Sanon, his beautiful heroine of Heropanti for the event.

Friends for life

Student of the Year actors Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra share a great camaradiere. At the event when they managed to find seats together, they were seen chatting away. We assume they were sharing notes. While Varun Dhawan was performing, Sidharth hosted a section of awards. Shraddha Kapoor, Sidharth’s co-star in Ek Villain, was also seen with them.

Going green

Dheeraj Kumar looked sporting in a green coloured jacket, an unusual colour for men wear. But he carried it off amazingly well. The film-maker was one among the few to arrive early. When he spotted music composer Lalit Pandit, together they posed for pictures and gave sound bytes first before catching up with each other.

Poshter Boys

Nominees for the Marathi film Yellow, director Mahesh Limaye and actor Rishikesh Joshi were dressed for the occasion, in suits. Aniket Vishwasrao, who was seen in Poshter Boyz with Joshi, was also part of the gang. They sportingly cheered all the winners and were overheard telling someonehow they were enjoying the show.

All photos by: Prakash Yeram and Express Photographers Vasant Prabhu, Kevin D’Souza, Dilip Kagda, Pradeep Kochrekar, Prashant Nadkar, Amit Chakravarty, Pradip Das, Ganesh Shirsekar, Narendra Vaskar, Deepak Joshi and Varinder Chawla