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Transcription

The
Chosen
Ones...
| GR8 GALA
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The ITA Laurel for GR8! Entertainment
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara famously is its laser-etched characters and there
Fun, Fire & Finesse!
It is all that and more! It has grabbed the self-appointed
know-alls of the industry by the collar and shaken them
pulp. It tossed the notions about what works on Indian
screens into the dustbin!
‘Zindagi…’ dared to seek success on its own terms!
And it got that! One of the biggest blockbusters of the
being some of our most penetrating actors in
their garbs. Hence, be it Arjun (Hrithik Roshan –
dynamite), Imraan (Farhan Akhtar – delectable), Laila
(Katrina Kaif – dainty), Kabir (Abhay Deol – dynamic)
or whoever, they are all throbbing with life rather
than being some cardboard characters.
Subtle yet sumptuous, ‘Zindagi…’ has caught up the
fancy of the country’s youth like nobody’s business!
It has cut them in on its all new zing and its take on what it
means to have a bonding. They feel it is them
on the screen and empathise with its leads
in toto.
At the Awards, not many knew that
‘Zindagi…’ was to be celebrated there. Hence,
there was a stir when Farhan with his dropdead casual air walked in, accompanied
by the immaculately prim & propah Ritesh
Sidhwani, his partner. Promptly escorted to
their seats, they sat there eyeing the goingson amusedly.
Ram Kapoor and Bhagyashree to
Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar
year, it has uproariously connected with the lay viewers,
besides being a toast of the connoisseurs as well. That’s
almost a miraculous feat to achieve as generally the two
are perceived to be poles apart.
But Farhan & Zoya Akhtar’s labour of love succeeded in
getting both on its side just like their Dil Chahta Hai did
once. Actually, ‘Zindagi…’ takes off from where ‘Dil…’
ended. It is a pluckier extension of that cult film. It, too, is
basically a similar Road Movie and its end result is also a
reorientation and reintroduction of one’s self to one, but it
explores wider horizons of human Psyche in it.
If ‘Dil…’ was an X-Ray, ‘Zindagi’… is an MRI!
Another thing that has endeared it to the viewers so
Shashi Ranjan joined him and soon the two
were seen gabbing on like long lost chums.
Farhan had a pat ready for Shashi on having
organised such a closely-knit ceremony and
was visibly bowled over by the stupendous
set and the innovatively choreographed acts.
And then the anchors declared the ‘Special’ honour!
Gautam (Rohde) and Karishma called upon Ram Kapoor
& Bhagyashree to present this Award. And Ram, suave
as ever in his dark suit that did a lot in concealing his
copiously endowed frame, beamed his beatific smile…
‘The ITA Laurel for GR8! Entertainment, 2011’ goes to
– Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara…!’
And the house resounded with clamorous claps and
Seetee’s!
Farhan & Sidhwani walked up to the stage looking clearly
beside themselves with joy. After being handed over the
trophy by Bhagyashree, Farhan took to the mike and cast
a glance at the lustily cheering crowd! With eyes shining
with glee, he said…
‘This is the first Award of the year for us and it couldn’t
have come at a better place…!’
Anu and Shashi Ranjan smiled!
That was the moment when Television gave a pat on the
back of Cinema – the instant, when the world saw the Small
Screen hugging the Big Screen. And Farhan was right! Such
a thing could happen only at The ITA Awards. In the world
of Indian Entertainment the ITAA is – ‘Sangam’!
Farhan’s smile said as much!
Dheeraj Kumar, Dharmendra, Shashi Ranjan and Farhan Akhtar
GR8! | november 2011 |
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| GR8 GALA |
Best Serial – Drama (Jury)
Bade Acche Lagte Hain
Daisy fresh!
It’s a simple spread and yet, so very sumptuous for your senses & sensibilities!
It has taken the Mickey our of those self-appointed know-alls of the trade who
claim that trying nuances on TV means commercial hara-kiri, as things have to
be solid rather than subtle here to make them work.
‘Bade…’ has turned that presumption on its head!
Eschewing the overblown, it has rested on little, little niceties instead and
presented a tale of Middle-age bonding between its leads, who are as different
from each other as chalk is from cheese.
The ‘He’ & the ‘She’ of this story
are on the opposite planes of the
Social spectrum – the former is a
billionaire, while the latter is living
her strictly middle class, salaried
life to glory. But where the disparity
really sticks out as a sore thumb is in
their basic nature and personas.
In that, the ‘He’ is highly-strung,
hyper and always harried because
of no reason in particular, while the
‘She’ is cool, collected and cares a
hoot for his fastidious fussing over
exclusivity, propriety and decorum.
‘She’ is all heart… ‘He’ is all head!
But they say, ‘Opposites’ attract
and how right they are!
Our poles apart Ram (the ‘He’) and
Priya (the ‘She’), too, get intertwined
and then sparks fly, leading us on a
merry romp of pure, unadulterated
fun. Finely-drawn, subtly-shaded,
ebulliently-etched, ‘Bade…’ impacts
you with a directness that is instant.
It stands apart and stands out today
in times of high-pitched dramas
with heavy-duty themes!
Dheeraj Kumar to Ekta Kapoor and Bade Acche Lagte Hai team
Best Serial – Comedy (Jury)
Lapataganj
Funny Farm!
It’s Life twisted at its tail! It picks up the little pricks & pokes
of day-to-day living in the typical small-town India and
churns out a huge hungaama out of that. In the process,
it creates a tapestry of characters who can tickle you pink
with their oddball idiosyncrasies!
It bores deep into human nature and comes up with
nutty nuggets about why people are what they are?
42 | GR8! | november 2011
The ITA Jury didn’t disagree,
either!
Amply aided by the penmanship of who’s perhaps the
Pope of Comedy in Hindi literature, the late Sharad Joshi,
‘Lapataganj’ takes you on rollercoaster ride with its crazy
nibbles quibbles and squabbles. In each of the nooks &
corners of this ‘Ganj’ you would be bumping into fun and
going into stitches!
And what terrific toons this Toonpur has!
Be it the lead ‘Mukundi’ (Rohitashv Gour) with that
cabbage of a face or the battery of batty nutcakes that
people Lapataganj, they all have to be seen to believe
for all their quirks and kinks. You have a such fun feast of
funnybones there – the cranky Kachhua Chaacha (Vineet
Kumar), the haltering-faltering Indumati (Sucheta Khanna)
wifey to Mukundi, the misty Mishri Mausi (Shubhangi
| GR8 GALA |
Best Serial – Drama (Popular)
Both the cousins are married
into the, rolling in wealth, Modi
household where Gopi’s hubby,
Ahem is also nothing short of a
growling cat for her, as he is all
the time cursing her for being
illiterate, ignorant and insipid.
And the biggest cat there is
Kokila Modi, her Saas, in whose
mortal fear she lives.
Saath Nibhana Saathiya
But there is a catch here!
The big cat, notwithstanding her
scowls and howls at Gopi, in fact,
nurturers a soft corner for her and
saves her from all of those nasty
onslaughts from all the vicious
elements around.
This is the twist that does it!
Aishwarya Sakhuja and Manasi Parekh to
Giaa Maanek and Saath Nibhana Saathiya crew
The Cat and the Canary!
Or rather say – ‘Cats’ and the Canary, because this twisting, turning tale depicts the
mess & muddle of a Canary (that little bird with yellow feathers) surrounded by
cats of the dangerous kind! Of course, we are drawing a metaphor here! And that’s
because the predicament of Gopi, the fragile, docile and all the time breaking into
cold sweat Bahu of the Modi’s is just like that of the Canary’s, as she, too, is caught in
a ring of predators prowling to pounce upon her.
The nastiest in this feline cluster around her are her own cousin, Rashi and Rashi’s
mother, Urmila Ben. Actually, both the ‘Maa-Beti are hell bent upon heaping misery
after misery in Gopi’s life, who has been raised in their house as an orphan and
hence is an object of contempt and derision for them!
This is what gives the Saas-Bahu
syndrome a new slant, which
has caught the imagination of
the viewers. Today, despite the
cribbing & carping in certain
quarters about its melodramatic
overtones, the lay viewers are
swearing by ‘…Saathiya’ and
despite the handicap of being a
7 pm show, it is soaring on the
popularity charts.
To many, the juggernaut of ‘…
Saathiya’ is inexplicable, but the
hard-boiled fact remains…
Success on TV spells as ‘…
Saathiya’, today!
Gokhale) who keeps forgetting
everyone and everything, or other
oddities like Elizabeth Tailor (Krishna
Bhatt), the biji, biji (i.e., busy, busy)
Pappu Pandey – you name it!
And all along this rumbustious path,
as you tread with them, you get keen
insights into life & living that you
would treasure forever. Comedies
will come and comedies will go – but
a ‘Lapataganj’ will be something for
you to cherish for evermore.
They’ll always bring a teehee to
your face!
Gautami Kapoor and Raj Naik to Lapataganj team
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Best Actor – Drama (Jury)
Ram Kapoor
Doing a Sanjeev Kumar!
No less! What he is doing in ‘Bade Achhe…’ can hold a candle to the best of ’em.
Particularly, he reminds you of the nonesuch thespian Sanjeev Kumar whose
prowess of acting overpowered every other element generally considered to be
a liability for a lead Star like looking paunchy & podgy because of having totally
lost the battle of the bulge.
Preeti Jhangiani and Pragati Mehra to Ram Kapoor
That’s exactly what Ram Kapoor
has achieved!
A far, far cry from the hot-bod
heroes of today, Ram has still swept
the viewers off their feet with his
screen avatar of a billionaire, named
Mr. Kapoor, who struts about
nonchalantly with his roly-poly
frame, living life on his own terms
– period!
Even more importantly, Ram has
brought a rare flair for nuanced
acting on Television, which is at
such a pathetic premium in these
days of high-blown histrionics all
around. And not only shades, the
spread of his performance is also
amazing! Be it those rib-tickling
banters with Sakshi or that deeply
emotional outburst, defending
his hapless father-in-law before
those surly, snooty members of
the Kapoor family at his marriage,
he displays equal flourish aplomb
doing both. That’s how he sways
you from ecstasy to agony with
his comic strokes and emotive
outpourings.
Punchy and poignant – a double
dazzle!
Best Actress – Drama (Jury)
Balika Vadhu
That’s exactly what The ITA Jury did second time in
succession (and thrice since her veritable tour-de-force of a
performance in Balika Vadhu started) and anointed her with
‘Best Actress – Drama’ for ‘Balika Vadhu’. Needless to say, the
crown couldn’t have been deserved better!
What more could you say about her?
Today, her Daadisa has changed!
That she is peerless in what she does… that she’s gone the
limit and beyond… that, despite having advanced in age,
she is more stellar than all of those young stars put together
and has raised the bar of acting in Television… that she is
impeccable, inimitable, incomparable – well, adjectives and
encomiums have stopped meaning anything in her case!
From her redoubtable countenance of initial months, she
has now shifted to a far more agreeable and amicable
persona. Daadisa has mellowed! The inherent danger in
such a situation is that the artiste may lose some of the
punch in the performance by being bereft of that highvoltage dramatics.
So let’s just bow in silence to someone who is well &
truly Bee’s knees!
After all, it is widely held that the ‘negative’ is more ‘dramatic’
and impactive than the ‘positive’! But the Surekha Sikri’s of
Surekha Sikri
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Best Actress – Drama (Jury)
Sakshi Tanwar
She can walk on eggs!
Make no mistake about it,
Sakshi Tanwar as Priya has
pulled off something that
would be difficult to match
up to for quite some time to
come. The total empathy she
has created with the viewers in
this role would be a subject for
analysis by experts in future.
Yes, she did create an impact as
Parvati Bhabhi, too – but that
was more on a maudlin, mushy
level. Her Priya is totally shorn
of the mushy slush! Instead,
she appeals to your finer
sensibilities!
That’s how she wowed the ITA
Jury, too!
Sayantani Ghosh and Natasha Sharma to
Ekta Kapoor on behalf of Sakshi Tanwar
What a makeover!
The high-pitched, high-frequency Parvati Bhabhi (Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii)
has morphed here into the easy, effervescent Priya – and how! She has so
totally shed the skin of her former avatar that today you cannot imagine it’s
the same person who has done both!
As Priya, she amazes you no end with her sheer dexterity in delineating
an emotion ever so subtly and to cap it, projecting the comic pith of those
one-liners with her eloquent eyes. You wonder why this tickling, bindaas
side of her talent was left untapped so far?
Sakshi Tanwar
this world are made
of another clay! After
the transformation,
she has given such an
emotive cutting-edge
to her performance
that she still stands
tall as the lady of all
she surveys, dwarfing
everyone and
everything around
her!
That’s the stuff
legends are made of!
Surekha Sikri
Natasha Sharma to rep
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| GR8 GALA |
Best Actor - Drama (Popular)
Arhaan Behll
Mann Ki Awaaz.. Pratigya
He came from behind!
Actually – out of nowhere! Anybody hardly ever knew that there was a certain
something called Arhaan Behll before he appeared as the lead in ‘Pratigya’.
Within a few weeks of its coming on air, ‘Pratigya’ caught the fancy of the
viewers all across and its hero Krishna, the rowdy, bully boy from the streets of
small town Allahabad, became a household name!
That’s the only way the cookie could crumble!
Because Arhan brought a delicious animality to Krishna was lapped up by
one and all. And it doesn’t end at
that! Behll’s Krishna is not a linear
stereotype – instead, he is multilayered. From the outside, he is
an out & out bad cheese, hard as
nails, but there is something deeply
delicate to his persona, too!
This roughneck has love in its
purest, most delicate form lurking
in him!
But he, himself, was unaware of it
till it came into his life in the form
of Pratigya (Pooja Gaur). From then
on Krishna becomes a ‘complex’
nest of emotions, torn as he came
to be amongst his family, his own
feudalistic upbringing and his
selfless surrender in love to Pratigya,
who resists and thwarts his amorous
advances, despite being bonded
into marriage with him as forced by
circumstances.
Rajan Shahi, Dolly Bindra, Rajeshwari Sachdev to
Pooja Gor on behalf of Arhaan Behll
Arhaan is now ice, now fire in
the role and presents fascinating
moments of high-octane emotions
as Krishna. This year, his fans choked
the ITA mail with a big thumbs-up to
him as the ‘Best Actor – Popular’!
That’s a knockout all the way!
Best Actress - Drama (Popular)
Giaa Maanek
Saath Nibhana Saathiya
‘Gopi!’… ‘Gopi!’… ‘Gopi Bahu!’…
That’s the constant drone these days amongst the viewers! This
character has caught up with them to such an extent that for
the first ever time, it has perched a Non-Primetime (7 pm) show
at the top of the heap on the popularity charts, shoving all the
Primetime biggies to secondary status.
A lamb to slaughter!
That’s the visage she projects, cringing and cowering
all the time before the world at large and her
formidable Saas in particular. She breaks into tears
at a rate of knots and with Herculean difficulty she
mews a word or two like the kitten in torrential rains.
That’s a character which could look ridiculous – if it
doesn’t, it’s because of the touches Giaa gives to it.
She duly performs all of that sniveling stuff required
of her, but not without imbuing the character with
hues of indefatigable inner strength.
Hence, Gopi comes across as not a mere doormat,
but someone with a mind of her own. She may
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GR8! Ensemble Cast
isn’t? Be it the veterans
like Usha Nadkarni & Ajay
Wadavkar (Manav’s Parents),
Savita Prabhune & Kishori
Govind (Archna’s parents)
or the young ones like Priya
Marathe (Archana’s sister
Varsha) and Anurag Sharma
(Varsha’s beau, Satish) or
Manav/Archana’s biggest
antagonist Sumit Arora
(playing Dharmesh, the
hubby to Archna’s second
sister, Vaishali) – each and
everybody has chipped in with
a remarkable performance!
Pavitra Rishta
That’s Ensemble as Ensemble
should be!
It’s interlacing at its best!
An opinion poll was once again
conducted by GR8! through the
internet, asking GR8! Readers
in particular and the TV viewers
at large as to who do they think
to be an unassailed winner in
this category? And the results
struck an almost predictable
note… it was – Pavitra Rishta all
the way! The concerted effort
of the Pavitra Rishta cast just
couldn’t be ignored anymore
and the moment a panel set
by GR8! endorsed the Janta’s
opinion, it became official that
the Ensemble Crown would be
placed on it!
Take, for instance, the winner this year – Pavitra Rishta! Yes, the leads Ankita
(Archana) & Sushant (Manav) are superlative in it, but tell us someone who
Perfect Combo! Lethal
Combo!
Adnan Sami and Ratan Rajput to Ekta Kapoor and Pavitra Rishta team
It’s not about one…
It’s about all…!
GR8! has instituted this unique citation at The ITA Awards, which crowns the
collective excellence in Acting in a serial. At times, you come across a show that
has a perfect weaving of not one, not two brilliant performances in it, but of the
whole body of actors in it.
never look into the eyes
of her Ma-in-law, but she
can take any danger to her
family absolutely head-on.
Behind her jellyfish frame
lurks a steely resolve and
that’s what endears her to
the viewers so much that
they fall for her hook, line &
sinker!
A warrior in the skin of a
winp!
Ashutosh Rana and Sanaya Irani to Giaa Maanek
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Best Actor – Comedy (Jury)
Cyrus Broacha
The Week That Wasn’t
Cyrus, the Virus!
He infects you with fun of the most bizarre kind! Unpredictable, unstoppable
and still never unreasonable, Cyrus loves to keep up appearances of a weirdo for
himself. But behind that façade there hides a probing, thinking man, who has
an opinion all his own upon everything out there and he is in-your-face about it!
Like it or lump it!
He packs all of that bile, wrapped in his signature madcap fun, into ‘The Week
That Wasn’t ’! His take-off as an anchor in this spoof on a Current Affairs Show
is an out and out thunder-boomer.
He wags his chin like there is no
tomorrow and comes up with batty
one-liners (largely improvised on
the spot) within two shakes of a
lamb’s tail.
And he gets away with blue
murder!
Poking fun on the mightiest of
’em, rubbing potentially alarming
fanatics the wrong way and raining
ridicule on social evils, he uses his
mastery over the Comic in a way
that everybody gulps his bitter pills
with helpless tolerance.
Seeing Cyrus in this show is seeing
a Circus, wherein the clown is most
certainly the wisest bloke around.
He may seem to gibber and jabber
nineteen to a dozen, but there
is loads & heaps of sense in his
nonsense. Never underestimate
a clown – never ever make the
mistake of taking Cyrus for some
dead-from-the-neck-up dumbo! He
can kick the daylights out of you
with his wit & grit!
Jaaved Jaaferi to Cyrus Broacha
Best Actress – Comedy (Jury)
Kavita Kaushik
FIR
An encore!
She does it again, i.e. winning an ITA crown for the second
time in succession. And it was almost a fait accompli! Her
comic juggernaut as Chandramukhi Chautala in FIR surges
on relentlessly, running over all competition along the
way!
You can’t pin a cloud like Kavita down!
A wacky whiplash – that’s what
he is!
She has redefined Comedy on the small screen and
instead of contorting faces or wriggling her body to
evoke laughter, she has concentrated on presenting a
whacky to the bones character drenched in Haryanvi hues.
Apparently, she knows the Haryanvi lingo only too closely
and that’s how she has used it to the optimum for packing
a comic wallop to Chandramukhi Chautala, the bully of an
Inspector.
A laughing gas all the way, all along!
Today, people swear by the side-splitting fun of her jabs
& jibes at one & all, her resounding slaps on her silly
subordinates and her flourish with the repartees, which is
a typically Haryanavi trait out there!
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Best Child Artiste (Jury)
Rushi Raj Pawar
Chandragupta Maurya
Also, he is often bombarded
with the scholastic discourses
of Guru Chanakya. Surely, he
must not be making much
head or tail of them, but he
never ever looks lost or spent.
Like a true pro he sails through
every challenge that this period
drama throws at him with
sheer aplomb.
He goes the whole hog and
goes great guns at that!
To cap it, despite all of that
larger-than-life stuff, he
doesn’t once lose his childlike
innocence. His is not a
cardboard character – instead,
he breathes life into the child
Chandragupta and most
endearingly forms a ‘connect’
with the viewers.
Ishita Panchal, Ahsaas Channa and Ulka Gupta to Rushi Raj Pawar
Big guy!
That’s how he has carried the
entire serial on his shoulders.
He has been the USP of
Chandragupta Maurya and its
success owes a lot to him.
He might just have touched his teens, but he has done what would be the envy of
blokes far advanced in years than him. He has recreated the child Chandragupta
Today, Chandragupta has
with his performance in ‘Chandragupta Maurya’ in such a way that people think
entered adulthood and Rushi
they are having a tryst with the real thing, rather than some mere make-believe!
has been replaced by Ashish
Sharma, but mark our words
And he has roughed & toughed it out hard sweat!
– Rushi’s Chandragupt would
be remembered…
It’s no child’s play to play child Chandragupta. That was the era of swords, horses
and values that may look absolutely alien to a city-bred boy of today, like for
Till the fat lady sings!
instance – the Gurukul traditions that hardly even exist in present times!
The biggest thing is that she
never ever looks forced or
contriving in creating Comedy.
That naughty nonchalance as
well as those punchy quips
come only too naturally to her.
Spontaneous to the hilt and
timing-perfect, Kavita makes
Chandramukhi come alive
uproariously on the screen!
And her humour makes
hamburgers out of the viewers!
Juhi Babbar and Cyrus Sahukar to Vihaan Kohli
on behalf of Kavita Kaushik
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Best Director – Drama (Jury)
Imtiyaz Punjabi
a fascinating web of emotions,
aspirations and exasperations of
human mind in it that it becomes a
memorable viewing experience, in
turn.
Maryaada Lekin Kab Tak
Daringly different!
He loves to swim against the current! Going ‘where eagles dare’ is second nature
to him and this once, he has got just the opportunity to let himself loose and
unleash his out-of-the-box ideas to the max. Indeed, the vehicle he has waited
for so long has come his way!
‘Maryada…’ is a godsend for Imtiyaz Punjabi!
And he has grabbed the opportunity head, heart and soul! He has created such
What is even more daring is that he
has achieved many a radical first on
the decidedly conservative Indian
Television terrain through this serial.
Be it Man-Woman relationship, or
under-the-carpet facts of Family,
Passion, Psyche – he has shown
a different and definite take on
everything. He has pushed the
envelope!
That’s how Maryaada comes
across as an out & out ripper!
Who could have thought that one
day the prudery of Indian TV would
make way for such taboo topics
as ‘Gay’ bondings? That ‘One day’
has been brought to it by Imtiyaz
Panjabi. Most importantly, he has
tackled these issues not for any
cheap manipulative titillation of the
viewers, but with great sensitivity
and responsibility. To cap it, he
knows how to live his concepts on
the screen through his actors. He
uses them like a maestro uses his
strings!
Rohit Roy and Ridhi Dogra to Imtiyaz Punjabi
Best Director – Drama (Jury)
Ravindra Gautam
The Balaji protégé has come a long way, even if mostly
within their orbit only. Therein, he has fiddled with many
a genre and unfailingly done that with promise. Now it’s
time for that promise to reach its fruition and that season
of ‘fruition’ for him has come in the form of ‘Bade Achhe
Lagte Hain.’
That’s his shining hour!
And so the symphony erupts!
That’s Maryaada!
He uses the material on hand with a dexterity that
amazes you no end. His felicity with the Comic and
his flourish with the Dramatic sail him through the
challenges thrown by the Serio-Comic tenor of this
story. He creates such an intoxicating blend of the two
as to make ‘Bade…’ the headiest thing to happen to
Television of late!
It snows smiles all over!
Another thing that’s clearer than crystal is that the man
knows his onions as far as Directing is concerned. There
is a special zing to the way he mounts a scene. Also,
his keen observation of behavioural nuances in people
makes his characters come alive on the screen. Yes, you
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Best Director – Comedy (Jury)
There is another side to
his persona and that’s his
penchant for literature. That’s
how when he is given an
assignment to transcribe onto
the screen a work penned by
the such a renowned writer as
the late Sharad Joshi, he makes
it the biggest vehicle to carry
his own directing skills.
Dharam Verma
Lapataganj
He treads where many won’t
even get a toehold!
Lapataganj is just that territory!
Couched in Sharad Joshi’s
subtle, heavily nuanced
humour, it could easily go
haywire in lesser hands. Trust
us, it is no buttoning of your
shirt to transcribe literature
onto the screen, Comic, Tragic
or whatever.
Apurva Agnihotri and Disha Vakhani to Dharam Verma
He has it what it takes!
Timing, Tempo, Tension – he has all the creative ingredients in him to dish out a
laugh-riot. He can juggle his script to great Comic effect and can get rollicking
performances out of his actors. You could say his is the safest pair of hands in
cooking up something truly delectable for you.
And it doesn’t stop at that!
You have to walk on eggs to
do that with any modicum of
success. But it can be done
– and Dharam has shown how!
Not only this, one just cannot
do ‘Lapataganj’ without
knowing the hinterland India.
Only that mental interface with
what goes about in the Ganj
(township) life & living can
stand you in good stead when
you are attempting something
like Lapataganj.
And Dharam Verma knows his
‘Ganj’ inside out!
could say he has the advantage
of the wealth of experience in
Sakshi and Ram, but in no way
it could be them only who have
created Priya & Mr Kapoor in
the serial. On the screen, all
talent, however sterling, needs
the guiding hand of a director
to channel their skills into
the creation of characters as
winsome as Priya & Mr Kapoor.
With Ravindra Gautam at the
helm, it was easy!
Rohit Roy and Ridhi Dogra to Ravindra Gautam
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Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jury)
Anup Soni
Balika Vadhu
At last!
The ITA Jury gives a nod to him and trust us, the honour, though a bit late in
coming, is undoubtedly and unquestionably well deserved. Anup Soni has been
around… giving a sterling accout of himself in one performance after another.
Particularly, his Bhairon Singh in ‘Balika Vadhu’ is a crowning glory for him as an
artiste-par-excellence.
And it’s Bhairon who’s done the trick for him!
Bhairon has ushered Anup into
The ITA Hall of Fame. The picture
of dignity and grace, Bhairon is no
easy-peasy role to play. He has many
layers to his persona and it needs a
lot of arsenal in an actor to conquer
him. One slip and the character
could be mired in the clichés that
are done to death on the screen in
such roles.
Anup lends a rare gravitas to
Bhairon!
His pride in being Kalyani Devi’s
son… his equally intense pain at the
Matriach’s decadent decrees… his
handling of the delicate situation
of his elder brother discovering
that he is not related to the family
by blood… his standing by his
daughter-in-law against his errant
son, who goes astray and marries
another girl… all of those shades
are brilliantly brought to the screen
by Anup.
Alka Yagnik to Anup Soni
Of course, he has done that before
to many of his past characters and
would do that again to the ones
that are to come – but Bhairon is
and would always remain special!
The ITA Jury, too, thought as
much!
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Jury)
Bhairavi Raichura
Sasuraal Genda Phool
It’s difficult!
To stand out in a perfect ensemble, where everybody is shining with equal
sheen. Of course, you do get some moments where the spotlight is all yours
and you have to grab those with acute hunger. That’s your chance! Don’t fritter
it away!
Bhairavi doesn’t!
She is always on the prowl! Just give her the chance and she would stand
out. Her Rajni Kashyap in ‘Sasuraal…’
is a picture of spontaneity. She is so
natural in her approach to the role that
you often tend to forget that you are
seeing a performance.
It’s only a closer scrutiny that can
show its complexities!
Indeed, it is no easy street for any
artiste to cross. To be natural before
the camera is way too difficult than
being dramatic. When you cut an
impression without the props of highflown lines or high-voltage drama
– that’s really something!
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Best Actor in a Negative Role (Jury)
Shiv Subrahmanyam
Mukti Bandhan
vocals. It was evident that
something special is coming
the small screen way.
And Shiv’s I M Virani has lived
up to those expectations!
Here is a man who is so caught
up in his megalomania that
lording over others becomes
obsessive-compulsive for
him. A bad loser, he never
ever forgets, what to say of
forgiving. He plots detention of
his own brother, just because the
latter doesn’t fall in line with his
way of thinking.
A veritable wolf in sheep’s
clothing!
Varun Badola to Shiv Subrahmanyam
Out-of-the-box!
And when he strikes, it’s always
what the Americans say, a ‘Sunday
Punch’ that knocks the daylights
out of the prey hunted by him.
The worst to suffer is his own
daughter-in-law, who has to
go through hell because of his
malignant machinations.
A new turn to the snake-in-the-grass syndrome!
It would be difficult to forget
Shiv’s hisses and occasional snarls
or his sardonic smile that was so
dismissive and contemptuous of
all that was ‘positive’ around him.
He fits I M Virani’s persona to a ‘t’,
looking every inch the aristocrat
the character is as well as being so
credible in his incredible evil!
Even as the first promos of Mukti Bandhan started, Shiv caught up the
imagination of the viewers with his towering frame and that grainy bass in his
And he walks straight into The
ITA hall of fame!
He is not your stereotyped ranting, raving villain who raises Cain at the drop of
a hat. Instead, there is a steely cool on his face and a disquieting chill in his eyes
that makes I M Virani (the character he plays in Mukti Bandhan) all the more
sinister. Tall, dark and immaculately turned out, he almost makes you fall for him
notwithstanding his diabolical deeds!
Bhairavi is inimitable in that!
She doesn’t strike one false note!
Her concern for the entire Kashyap
family, her charming banters with
her hubby, Inder (Jiten Lalwani),
her care, love as well as insecurities
about Suhana (Ragini Khanna),
the latest entrant to the Kashyap
household as Ishaan’s (Inder’s bro
– Jay Soni) wife – Rajni has so many
planes to her and Bhairavi virtually
lives each of Rajni’s intricacies to
the hilt!
You are held captive – lock, stock
& barrel!
Shilpa Saklani and Kanwaljeet Singh to Bhairavi Raichura
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Best Actress in a Negative Role (Jury)
Mona Ambegaonkar
Maryaada Lekin Kab Tak
Yet another punchy pack!
She is awesome!
Mona Ambegaonkar is a name known for powerhouse performances both on
the big screen (White Noise, Mangal Pandey – the Rising) as well as its smaller
counterpart, Television (CID, Amber Dhara). And she does it again in Maryaada!
Being a Maharashtrian, it
certainly would have been no
piece of cake for her to adapt
to the highly peculiar Haryanvi
accent and lingo that her
character demands. But it goes to
the credit of this amazing actress
that she takes to the complexities
of the rusticity inherent in that
language and the character like
a fish takes to the water. In fact,
she uses the roughness to great
effect in adding menace to her
performance.
Coming a bit late in the show, she has kind of put it on fire with that wily, foxy
edge she has given to her character. She plays Roshni, a politician somewhere in
the dusty, distant Haryana and playing her, she has scaled new horizons of sly,
scheming and sardonic negativity.
That’s the true chameleon of an
actress – no two ways about it!
Sameer Kochar and Tina Dutta to Mona Ambegaonkar
GR8! Face of the year 2011 Male
Her seething eyes, the derisive,
dismissive tone of her gruff and
growl, the swagger in her stride
– all combine to make it a truly
electrifying performance. In
scene after scene, episode after
episode, Mona’s Roshni creates
a web of evil and intrigue that
ensnares the viewers wholly and
totally!
That’s Mona’s Mojo!
Shaheer Sheikh
in Navya. You feel a bit of your own
adolescence in him. He seems to have been
sliced out of you!
The dude!
You are zapped!
He is the stuff teenyboppers dream of! Cucumber fresh, spicy eyes
and dripping a raw sensuality, he still has a baby face that can melt
you instantly with its innocence. In short, it’s a Man-child combo
that sets the ‘it’-gen aflame and they are swooming after him. His
very appearance sends them in raptures.
That’s how when he takes those tentative,
dithering, doddering steps on the paths of
love with Navya (Soumiya Seth), you know
what all is happening there. You empathise
with him as all that has happened to you,
too – you’ve been there and done that!
Shaheer Sheikh can drum your blues out!
Falling a willing prey to his boyish charms, you adore his Anant
Then, those little banters of his with Navya,
the Roothna-Manaana, the dare-devilry in
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GR8! Face of the year 2011 Female
Juhi Aslam
Her parents, her own grit & guts and
above all – Destiny! That’s how, despite
heavy odds signalling otherwise, a
lifetime’s chance came her way and
she was scooped out of nowhere by
the makers of Baba Aiso Varr Dhoondo
(Imagine TV) and offered the lead in the
show that’s based on the life of a girl
Midget.
Dame Luck smiled and Juhi shined!
That’s because she grabbed the chance
and picked up the gauntlet of carrying a
whole serial on her frail, little shoulders.
Since then, she has gone through blood,
sweat and tears for accomplishing her
goal.
Shaad Randhawa and Yuvika Choudhary to Juhi Aslam
Destiny’s Child!
She had nothing going for her! Belonging to the distant, dusty Bhopal
and a lower Middle class Muslim family and to get it even worse,
being born a girl and that too a midget by birth – she had nothing to
fall back upon. Because of being height-challenged, she was just the
butt of snide sneers, even scorn that always ended up with her being
ritually jeered and jibed at by nearly one & all!
But she had 3 things on her side!
And mind you – it is not the usual
Midget role that one comes across on
the screen umpteen times ad nauseam,
where the poor handicapped ones are
made to behave in the most grotesque
manners possible.
It was a lead role of a height-challenged,
but a regular, normal, sensitive girl who
takes the world head-on to preserve
her dignity as a human being. And Juhi
gave a sterling account of herself in
projecting the agony of her own kind on
the screen!
That’s the face GR8! Readers chose…
The GR8! Face of 2011!
being with each other at any cost
and come what may – Shaheer’s
Anant reflects our own salad days
and their funky fun to the hilt.
As a corollary to that, it was with
an air of inevitability that he
came up trumps in the GR8! Face
poll. The readers seemed to be
so smitten by him that he was a
hands down winner of the title.
Dig up, guys! Shaheer Sheikh
has arrived!
Yuvika Choudhary to Shaheer Sheikh
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Best Thriller / Horror Serial (Jury)
Girls Night Out
A scary blend!
Viewing ‘Girls Night Out’ is viewing a compelling alloy. It mixes elements of a
Thriller, Horror, even a Reality show and churns them in its blender to serve
the viewers tingles down their spines. It explores the deeper layers of human
psyche, where reason and rationale break down to smithereens and the
unknown takes over!
And we watch bewitched!
A group of girls are herded to
a place, (in)famous for being
haunted. Mostly these are
dilapidated, Gothic dwellings and
the gals are dropped there in the
ominous hush of the night. And
then there ensues a barrage of
moments that are disquieting,
even delirious & demented at
times!
The bizarre holds sway!
And even the hardest nut starts
cracking! Stark, dark lonely night,
a mind fed with horrid yarns of
the haunted place that by itself
is unnerving anyway, what with
its spiral staircases, high domes,
tortuous corridors and what have
you – there couldn’t be a better
test for mental endurance!
Raavee Gupta and Manoje Biddvai to rep
‘Girls Night Out’ is a revelation! It
takes you where, in all likelihood,
you haven’t been before – it shows
you human beings in their raw
and it uses technique (on-body
cameras and all) to the optimum
effect in instilling the eerie in you
to the max!
Drop your defenses… drop your
teeth… it’s the Girls Night Out!
Best Historical / Mythological Serial (Jury)
Chandragupta Maurya
An era comes alive!
To make a period drama is no picnic! It can virtually lick the daylights out of one who
dares to pick up this gauntlet and strives to transcribe slices of a golden past (here
India’s) onto the screen. The biggest danger here is half-baked research and an ugly
rush of ‘Chalta hai’ attitude. That obviously results in neither-here-nor-there products
that make a travesty of history and dish out caricatures of those glorious personages
who have sculpted the destiny of India.
But here is a surprise – pleasant & exceptional!
‘Chandragupta Maurya’ puts a premium on research and within the parameters
of the Television scenario in the country, tries genuinely to remain faithful to the
authentic re-creation of the illustrious Maurya King’s saga who, despite his humble
origins, rose to create an India
unified from Bengal & Assam
in the East to Afghanistan &
Baluchistan in the West to Kashmir
& Nepal in the North and to the
Deccan Plateau in the South.
And the tale Chandragupta
is also drama of the highest
voltage!
With all the ingredients of
ambition, intrigue, agony and
affliction that this saga
affords, it cannot but grab the
attention of the viewer
instantly and then hold it firmly
in its clasp forever. Besides, it also
has the benefit of actors who have
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Best Anchor Game/Quiz Show (Jury)
Amitabh Bachchan
Kaun Banega Crorepati
poor cousin of Cinema
became the Big Brother
of the entire world of
Entertainment!
He anchored up a storm!
With that booming
baritone, that pristine
pronunciation and that
sky-scraping personality,
Amitabh Bachchan starts
where all others have
ended. And then there is no
limit to what he can do or
what he can scale!
In today’s times, when
anchoring on TV has
become such a ridiculous
circus, Amitabh Bachchan’s
gravitas in his act is
something anchoring
dreams are made of.
Nitin Vaidya and Anu Ranjan to Amitabh Bachchan
Beyond words!
Yes, it is no more possible to phrase the Amitabh charisma in words, however highflown they may be. Over the years, he has created a magic wand for himself under
whose spell a whole nation is swooning. Be it Big Screen, Small Screen or whatever,
you cannot escape the Big B Voodoo.
And KBC is a burning example of that!
With this one show, he opened up the floodgates for Television to drown the
country in it. It was after this show that TV budgets started sky-rocketting and the
But above all, it’s the chord
that he can strike with the
lay contestants on the show.
Despite his lager than life
bearings, he connects to
them with an intimacy that
the ensuing warmth glows
the cockles of the viewers’
hearts as never, ever before!
How do we sum all of that
up?
We cannot! Even
‘Matchless’ is an
understatement!
kind of melted themselves in
their roles.
Rushi Pawar’s dynamic childChandragupta, Manish Wadhwa’s
steely Chanakya, Sooraj Thapar’s
wily, slimy Dhanaanand – all linger
long in your mind and you like to
see more and more of them.
That’s how ‘Chandragupta Maurya’
is standing up to and holding
its own against the impact once
created by Chandra Prakash
Dwivedi’s ‘Chanakya’! On its own
strength, it has compelled the
viewers to root for it!
Jai ho!
Jasvir Kaur and G Krishnan to rep
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Best Game / Quiz Show (Jury)
Kaun Banega Crorepati
Historic!
It has been the Pole-star of Television since its earliest days! It triggered the
medium’s sensationally stellar growth. It was after its advent that Satellite TV
became such a humongous force to reckon with in the world of Entertainment.
If Television has become the behemoth it is today, it’s because of KBC!
Its origins form a fascinating tale!
In 1998, something unique happened in the world of UK Television – a show
came into being with the name – ‘Cash Mountain’. It was hosted by the now
legendary Chris Torrant (anointed with the ‘Order of British Empire’). This is the
show that later morphed into the phenomenal ‘How to be a Millionaire’ and
ended up being aired in upwards of
100 countries across the globe!
And this show became Indian TV’s
Destiny as well!
It was the year 2000, when Star TV,
hanging between Hindi-English
programming, decided to go all
guns blazing for being perceived
as a premier and exclusively Hindi
Channel. To do that, they needed
a catapult to bolt them onto their
desired identity.
With unerring judgment, they
chose to latch onto ‘How to be a
Millionaire’ for that and produced
its Indian avatar – ‘Kaun Banega
Crorepati’! And roping in Amitabh
Bachchan to anchor it was just what
the doctor ordered!
Big B proved to be a godsend! With
him as an anchor, KBC reached
mind-boggling heights.
His connect with the viewers was
instant and incomparable. In its
current season, the theme, ‘No
one is small’ comes across as plain
as the nose on your face when he
creates a total bonding with those
lay, ordinary people in the Hot-Seat,
making them feel like Kings!
Deepshikha Nagpal and Mazher Sayed to rep
KBC & its anchor have given the
Aam Indian glory!
Best Anchor - News/Current Affairs Show (Jury)
Rajdeep Sardesai
There is gunpowder behind that mellifluous smile!
He can upset the biggest of apple-carts and is an opinion-former of the nation. He, also, is the
Prince-charming of Electronic Media in the country. When Rajdeep Sardesai speaks, the world
sits up and listens!
Zillions are eating out of his hands!
Necks stop moving and eyes get glued to the TV screens whenever he appears on it to
champion a cause, to poke and prod some can of worms, or to rip the masks off from the shams!
He’s the bull in the
China shop!
It is this punch
and power of his
journalistic acumen
that even such a
mundane thing as
Election Coverage
& Analysis becomes
so very special and
unique. Spellbound,
you see him churning
statistics, slitting bytes
and dripping nuggets
of microscopic
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Best News / Current Affairs Show (Jury)
HT - Questions Journo Ethics
what has perhaps been the
worst crying shame for Indian
Journalism – the Radiagate!
There wouldn’t be many in
the country who still need
to be told that Radiagate
casts serious aspersions of
‘sold Journalism’ on the basis
of Radia tapes, where preeminent journos like Barkha
Dutt, Vir Sanghvi etc. are
allegedly getting hand-in-glove
with a big-ticket Corporate
Dalaal, Neera Radia and
agreeing to use their clout to
serve her client’s interests!
The whole case has left the
Nation disillusioned and
distraught!
Moulli Ganguly and Pankaj Dheer to rep
The Laundry!
That’s exactly what it is! It washes the dirty linen of Public Life with big,
loud thumps. To do such a show, one needs integrity of the hightest order,
particularly when the persons behind it try to scrutinise some of their own
kind. In a case like that, it’s easy to be swayed by nepotistic prejudices and
difficult to remain distanced or objective!
But ‘Journo Ethics’ proves to be an exception!
Anchored by the suave, dapper in a blue Jacket with blue striped tie, Rahul
Kanwal (Executive Editor, Headlines Today), the show becomes a mirror to
‘Headlines Today’ musters up
genuine pluck in taking the
issue head-on and gathers Vir
Sanghvi, the principal accused
(Barkha Dutt, they tell us,
declined to be there), besides
Prabhu Chawla, N Ram, M J
Akbar and so on to put the
issue under scanner!
The slug-fest that ensues is
eye-opening and while the
show ends, you already have
new illuminations about Journo
Ethics.
That’s push coming to shove!
insights into the happenings
around!
Aware, astute and always on
the ball, Rajdeep Sardesai is the
perfect prototype of a News
Anchor on our Television. He is
indisputably one of those who
have been instrumental in giving
heaps and loads of credence to
this genre. If, today, Electronic
News Media has become the
pole-star of Television in the
country, it’s owing a lot to this
relentless crusader!
There is divinity in what
he does!
Shekhar Suman to Rajdeep Sardesai
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Best Anchor - Talk/Chat Show (Jury)
Koël Purie Rinchet
On the Couch with Koël
Taking the wraps and exposing the unexposed!
She is like the drop of lime which, when touched to milk, rips it to curdle into
Paneer separated from whey. Similarly, her vinegar words rip through those
masks & defenses and bring the hidden cheese out of people’s personas. Koël
Purie is a delight to watch as she nestles the high & mighty on her ‘Couch’
and then slowly, almost inevitably, churns confessions out of them with her
beguilingly innocent words!
And she has a touch of delicious irreverence!
Poker-faced, she would suddenly
drop a naughty poser that the celeb
on the Couch with her would have
left no chance but to confess his/her
boo-boos, bloomers and blunders.
Be it Khushwant Singh, the pope of
smut or a coy Vidya Balan or a rather
straight-laced Aamir Khan – she takes
on all with impunity.
And the result is always the
revealing kind!
The viewers have a ball at Koël’s
Couchgiri. In fact, the Koël Couch has
become a new definition of the term,
‘Exposé’, as she sets about pealing
most lovingly all of those Couch’ed’
ones to the bones. The very concept
of such a confession Couch itself is
too cool, even more than that of a
shrink’s couch. Koël travels all over
with it and so you could say, the
Mountain goes to Mohammad to
have a slice of what is innermost in
him. Be it Pakistan’s ex-Prez Parvez
Musharraf, Aamir Khan or Wasim
Akram, none remain the same after
they’ve been on Koël’s Couch.
She doesn’t mollycoddle them – a la
Simi Garewal, or plays pally-pally with
them – a la Karan Johar… instead,
she is totally in-your-face and doesn’t
fight shy of asking them anything
– least of all sex!
Shekhar Suman to rep
Best Talk / Chat Show (Jury)
Aap Ki Kachehri – Season 3
Television’s own Lok Pal!
But it’s not preoccupied by corruption alone! It concerns
itself with a myriad other curses that keep mushrooming
in the lives of the ordinary people – ‘Domestic Violence’,
‘Alcoholism’, ‘Betrayals’, ‘Sexual Harassments’, ‘Adulteries’,
‘Violence against children’… you name it!
It solves varied tangles!
As they stand up from the Couch,
you’ve already known them inside
out!
Shepherded by the redoubtable Kiran Bedi, ‘Aap Ki
Kachehri’ shows most intimate vignettes of India in the
raw and the entire spectrum of the trials & travails of the
underdogs in the country comes alive before us.
But at the same time, it is not manipulative or triffles
vulgarly with serious issues to ‘entertain’, as some other
obnoxiously irresponsible shows are doing on TV, today.
Instead, it comes across as a deeply humanitarian attempt
to use the medium and its immediate impact & power to
the most sublime ends.
It’s a Yagna!
It purges the wrong-doers and restores dignity to the
wronged ones. Kiran Bedi shows amazing skill in sifting
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Best Anchor - Music/Film-based show (Jury)
Ayushman Khurana
Just Dance
He never treats the newbie
contestants like small
potatoes!
He always has a genuine
‘buck-up’ ready for each
of them, irrespective of
whether they’ve failed a
performance or come out
with flying colours. Yes, he
does tease them, with but
this leg-pulling is more of
a pal’s rather than of someone
looking down upon the poor dear
freshers.
And he is an all-in-one wonder!
Actually, a correct parallel for him
would be the circus clown, who
may seemingly be fumbling &
tumbling, but can actually pull
off all the stunts in the arena from
flying trapeze to passing through
fireballs. He knows it all!
Deeya and Tony Singh to Ayushman Khurana
Breaking the clutter!
Talent-hunt shows’ anchors are coming out of your ears and eyes these days. They
come with those gurgles & grins, silly struts and those banal jokes that amuse no
one. But that’s hardly a matter of concern for these princes of mediocrity – they
just keep going through their motions till the cows come home!
But the silver linings are always there!
And one such is Ayushman Khurana! He has taken anchoring to an all new level.
His biggest asset is that he can mock and laugh at himself. That instantly makes
him stand apart and stand out! As a result, he endears himself to his viewers like
nobody’s business. That he is different is evident by something else too.
Ayushman is no lesser! In ‘Just
Dance’, besides his crackling
quips, he would even break into a
jig and that too with the flourish
of a pro. Even Hrithik Roshan was
wowed with the way he rocked
and romped!
And lastly, Ayushman is special
as he is always spot-on and
has a great gift of the gab and
repartees. His sallies never fail to
send his audience in stitches!
He can melt the icebergs!
grain from the chaff. The way
she slits through masks and false
appearances and slices the truth
out of sham is exceptional in the
extreme. Absolutely stiff-upperlip and no-nonsense, she never
loses her compassion, either. Just
as her bearing is formidable, her
concerns for the victims is equally
earnest – and it shows! Television
couldn’t have a better chance to
wipe tears from hapless eyes and
none could have been more apt
than Kiran Bedi to do it through!
May her tribe increase!
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Best Music / Film-based Show (Jury)
Sa Re Ga Ma Li’l Champs
Little singers… large Sur’s!
It’s an ennobling concept – to ferret out raw, very, very young
talent from all over the country and then give them a dream display
window to make the world sit up and take notice of them. In season
after season, teeny-weeny boys & girls with tall talent have been
finding a foothold in the field because of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – Li’l
Champs’!
And ‘Champs’ they are – make no mistake about it!
That fact is epitomised in this year’s winner, the 10 year-old boy
prodigy, Azmat who sings like a dream. Actually, ‘Champ’ is an
understatement for him – he is already a doyen despite his age.
That’s why when the three finalists Salman,
Azmat & Nitin stood up on the stage in the
finale, waiting for the results with ashen faces,
everybody could see the ‘writing on the wall’
– it had to be Azmat and Azmat alone! After
all, didn’t he get a Guru like Suresh Wadkar
come to his knees before him? Most certainly,
‘… Li’l Champs’ is the champion of Talent-hunt
shows just because of the likes of him being
there on its stage.
That’s what also makes the show closest
to the hearts of the biggest of ’em, like say,
Salman Khan, who appeared on the show
for the eighth time this year and had a whale
of a time while he was there. He was totally
bowled over by Azmat and cuddled and
cajoled him, even made an on-the spot sketch
of his and finally, pledged to take upon himself
the total responsibility of his studies!
How touching!
‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – Li’l Champs’ is awash with
such unforgettable moments. With children
being centrestage, it is only natural to have
such moments, but when they are also
artistes-par-excellence, they create things that
anyone would treasure for all time to come.
For instance, when Guru Kailash Kher grabbed
the mike and started improvising on Azmat’s
singing, the little maestro signalled him to
stop at once and then continued with his own
song. This sent Salman into splits!
Lata Mangeshkar (no less) has the final
word on show and its contestants…
‘They are so ‘Sureele’ and ‘Taiyyar’…!’
We couldn’t have agreed more!
Ahsaas Channa to Jay Soni on behalf of
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – Li’l Champs’
Best Entertainment Channel (Popular)
Star Plus
Sunali and Roopumar Rathod to Gaurav Banerjee
| GR8
| GR8
GALA
GALA
| |
Best Reality Show (Jury)
than anything else, it was a
revelation when it came and
proved to be much more than
a mere star-rider, though, of
course, Hrithik was positively
an asset to the show!
Just Dance
Fazila Allana & Kamna Menezes
But there was something far
more salient to it!
And that was – the human
touch!
Arjun Bijlani to Fazila Allana
Whirls & twirls of a different kind!
Yes that’s the key word here – different! There are talent-hunt Dance-Reality
shows dime a dozen, today. But all of ’em have fallen into a stereotype, i.e.
candidates going on and on with mechanical calisthenics… sparring judges
going hammer & tongs on one another… canned cheers and hoopla – indeed,
such a sorry routine!
For a change, the interaction
amongst the candidates was not
Robotic and to cap it, there was
genuine, volcanic talent there
waiting to be tapped. And tapped
it was to the last squeeze under
the watchful eyes of the Judges
– the ubiquitous Farah Khan, the
bindaas Vaibhavi Merchant and
of course, what they called, ‘The
God of Dance’ – Hrithik Roshan.
To cap it, all of them were positive
and constructive in their critiques
rather than be demeaning to
the contestants. Also, they didn’t
ever try oneupmanship amongst
themselves or show their fangs to
tear each other to shreds.
The Talent-hunts are, in fact, hunting your guts out!
And lastly – the dancing! It
touched out-of-this-world highs
here and unearthed many a
gem in the form of those danceprodigies. No extraneous frills – no
shrills…
And then comes this whiff of fresh air, called ‘Just Dance’. Initially touted more
on the strength of Hrithik Roshan’s first ever appearance on the small screen
Thank heavens…
It was – ‘Just Dance’!
Best Hindi News Channel (Popular)
Aaj Tak
Anu Ranjan and Gaurav Banerjee to Mr. Naqvi
73
| GR8 GALA |
Best English News Channel (Popular)
CNN-IBN
Poonam Dhillon to Rajdeep Sardesai and Dilip Venkatraman
Best Business News Channel (Popular)
CNBC-TV18
Meghna Malik and Aditya Pethe to rep
Best Fashion & Lifestyle Channel (Popular)
TLC
Meghna Malik and Aditya Pethe to rep
Sushant Singh Rajput
Miss-a-heartbeat…
Sushant Singh Rajput (Pavitra
Rishta) storms in the finale…
There is lightning in his towering
frame and with a sword in hand,
he brings such a dancing ferocity
to the title-track of ‘Singham’
as to leave everybody agape…
Sanjeeda Sheikh, nimble-footed
as ever, comes cavorting to the ‘Aa
zara…’ from Murder-2 and sets the
stage aflame…
Then, Shaleen Bhanot (Do Hanso
Ka Joda) comes darting from
amidst the audience and he,
too, gambols to glory with a
remix of those Desi beats from
‘Bodyguard’…
Karan Pangali with Sanjeeda Sheikh
But if you thought they rocked
– look at this…!
Karan Pangali (Just Dance) replaces
Shaleen presenting a deadly
display of Kathak along with
Sanjeeda… And the last burst is
from the trio together, as they
explode on the stage with the vim
& vigour of ‘Senorita…’ (Zindagi Na
Milegi Dobara)… They prove, once
and for all, that stardust on TV is as
stunning as anywhere else, movies
included…
You’re lost in the sauce…!
-VB
Shaleen Bhanot
Sushant Singh Rajput with Sanjeeda Sheikh
Sushant Singh Rajput

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