by megri » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:42 pm
Five laughter champions from the STAR One's comedy show "The Great Indian Laughter Challenge" hosted the awards ceremony.
Newcomer Vidya Balan, who earned rave reviews for her performance in "Parineeta", won with the most promising newcomer female award and Shiney Ahuja was adjudged the best promising newcomer male for his role in "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi".
And ad filmmaker Pradeep Sarkar, who forayed into filmmaking with "Parineeta", won the best debut director award. After receiving the award, the 51-year-old director was quoted as saying, "Ab nahin hota to kab hota" (When, if not now).
Nagesh Kukunoor's "Iqbal" and Sudhir Mishra's "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" received the first Ramnath Goenka Memorial Award.
"Iqbal" was chosen for its spirit of empowerment and "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" for grappling with serious politics with sensitivity and courage.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Black" swept the maximum number of awards, including for screenplay, cinematography, sound and background score. Shweta Prasad and Naseeruddin Shah took home the Golden Lady for best supporting roles in "Iqbal".
Shankar Ehsan Loy won best music director for "Bunty Aur Babli". Gulzar won the best lyricist award for "Naam ada" from the "Yahan".
Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal received the best male and female vocalist for "Dheere jalna" from "Paheli" and "Piya bole" from "Parineeta" respectively.
Veteran action director Veeru Devgan got the unsung hero award. He was accompanied on stage by daughter-in-law Kajol who praised him saying: "He might be a fantastic technician and a great human being but he is the best father-in-law in the whole world."
This year the ceremony also raised a toast to 11 new male talents, 15 female and 28 debut directors.