(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Though it is primarily an award ceremony for the Malayalam film industry through public voting the Asiavision awards have always had an additional Bollywood and Kollywood flavour.
Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan. KT photo
Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan stole the hearts of tens of thousands of fans including her celebrity colleagues in the south Indian film industry at the 9th Asiavision Movie Awards ceremony held at the Sharjah International Cricket Stadium on Friday night.
Though it is primarily an award ceremony for the Malayalam film industry through public voting the Asiavision awards have always had an additional Bollywood and Kollywood flavour. This time the presence of Aishwarya added Bollywood glamour while Kajol who was set to receive an award for Excellence in Indian Cinema was conspicuous by her absence. Rumour has it the actress recently injured her foot though the organisers gave no explanation for her absence or her reportedly stalled comeback through the remake of How Old Are You in which Manju Warrier made a smashing return to the industry. Both Manju and director Roshan Andrrews were also there to pick up awards for Best Actor (Female) and Best Movie for the same.
Voted the ‘Icon of India’ for her contribution to Indian cinema and for representing the country on many international platforms Aishwarya arrived in a stunning red outfit and looked all set for her much-hyped comeback in Sanjay Gupta’s Jazbaa after the birth of her daughter three years ago.
The jam-packed stadium saw Ash grooving to the tune of Kajraare… with Shamna Kasim and team who paid her a dance tribute with a medley of her super hit songs.
“We are creative people … We actors are performers” Ash said after receiving the award.
“We like to give all that we can through our hard work and our soul to what we do. We are blessed that we can make a career out of what we are so passionate about.”
“But all our creativity is brought to fruition through you the audience. And we are blessed that we have you… giving us so much love and support and encouragement through our journey for as long as we are here in the industry and delivering our work for your entertainment.”
Aishwarya also released the 25th edition of the Asiavision Family magazine which had her face on the cover.
Mammootty. KT photo
Though she left the venue after receiving the award Ash’s presence was brought back on stage many times by other artists from the Malayalam and Tamil film industries who received awards.
While Mammootty’s son Dulquer Salman who bagged the Performer of the Year Award expressed his thrill at having been seated next to Ash some others like Vineeth Sreenivasan (Director of Best Socially Committed Movie) and Vijay Yesudas (Best Singer - Tamil) confessed their excitement about seeing the beauty queen for the first time.
Mammootty who also received an award for Best Actor was in an unusually jovial mood removing his blazer just before making his entry on stage. At 63 the veteran hasn’t lost it as hosts Ranjini Haridas and Mithun Ramesh pointed out.
Along with a Special Performance Award for his 25-year career Jayaram received a special tribute for being the first actor to have been awarded for his expertise in playing the traditional wooden drum.
Dedicating his award as usual to his wife Parvathy who accompanied him Jayaram remembered his first trip to Sharjah some 30 years ago as a mimicry artist.
He described Dhanush “as the most flexible actor in Indian cinema” while Dhanush who received a very loud applause while on the red carpet later acknowledged that the award that went to Jayaram was the most deserved one.
We are not sure if it was a coincidence that it was only after Dhanush who won the Youth Icon of India Award left the venue that Shruti Hassan who also received the same award stepped in towards the end of the function.
Being crowned the Youth Icon at 31 when he had to hide a few grey hairs in his beard was a funnier experience than having received a debut award sometime back after doing 25 movies Dhanush said.
However Dhanush acknowledged the acceptance for his movies among the Malayalees and said the awards like the one he received made him emotional.
Another father-son duo awardees were Shankar Mahadevan (Best Singer - Male) and Siddharth Mahadevan (New Sensation in Singing - India). Singing his debut song in Malayalam Siddharth gave a sneak peek into the yet-to-be-released movie Lavender.
Acclaimed cinematographer and director Santosh Sivan was honoured with the Pride of India Award. Actor Innocent who is now a parliamentarian was chosen as the Man of the Year while the Star of the Year Award went to young sensation Nivin Pauly who seemed upset about being seated in a corner albeit in the front row.
Dhanush. KT photo
Though there was a goof up in the seating arrangement it was heartening to see a mix of veterans like Shaji N. Karun Venu and Ranjith who received awards for Best Artistic Movie Best Outstanding Movie and Best Movie respectively with elderly theatre artiste Sethulakshmi (Best Actor in Character Role - Female) and lyricist Harinarayanan both of whom stepped into the limelight recently.
Earlier the Solid Band led by keyboard/piano prodigy Stephen Devassy gave a solid start to the six-hour-long event which ended with a stunning performance of the latest Bollywood dances led by actress Sanusha whose brother Sanoop picked up the Best Child Artiste Award.
Stephen’s band kept enthralling the audience with the support of Gopi Sunder (Best Music Director) and singers Najeem Arshad (Singing Sensation in Malayalam) Ranjini Jose Sayanora and Dubai-based Ann. They also paid a special tribute to hit Telugu composer and singer Devi Sri Prasad who bagged a Special Jury Award. However the crowd seemed more pleased with a medley of old songs by veteran Tamil singer Vani Jairam. The 68-year-old melody queen who has sung in 19 languages thanked the public for choosing her as the Best Female Singer even after 44 years of playback singing which she started with Bol Re Papi Hara in 1971 hit Hindi film Guddi .