It's all 'Black' at Zee Cine Awards

Mumbai, March 5 (IANS) Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Black" bagged the top honours at the star-studded Zee film awards that saw some power-packed performances by Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta even as Abhishek Bachchan had to miss the show due to viral fever.

The LIC Zee Cine Awards, held at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre in Mauritius Saturday night, was no different from the earlier Filmfare, Star Screen or Apsara Awards - in all of which "Black" swept the awards.

In the Zee awards, "Black" won in the best director, best actor and best actress award categories.

Bhansali, after receiving the best director award from Neetu Singh, said: "As I'm going to make a film with your son Ranbir - I hope next year I am here on stage with your son, madam."

He also received the award for the best film from Rekha and Akshay kumar.

It came as no surprise when Amitabh Bachchan's name was announced as the best actor award for his powerhouse performance in "Black". Saif Ali Khan, who was also nominated in the best actor (male) category, said before the show that Amitabh was the obvious choice.

Amitabh, who is still recovering from an operation, could not make it to the show and his co-star in "Black", Rani Mukerji, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali received the award on his behalf from father-son duo Feroze and Fardeen Khan.

Rani received the best female actor award from the well known couple Sridevi and Boney Kapoor for "Black".

Once again, child artist Ayesha Kapoor, who played the young Rani in "Black", won the award for best actor in a supporting role (female) while Abhishek Bachchan won the best actor in a supporting role (male) for "Sarkar".

Riteish Deshmukh won the best actor in a comic role for his fabulous performance in "Bluffmaster" and Nana Patekar bagged the best actor in a villainous role for "Apaharan".

Screen diva Rekha and Indian celluloid's lover boy Rishi Kapoor were honoured with the lifetime achievement awards for their contribution to Indian cinema by Shah Rukh Khan and Rani respectively.

On receiving his award, Rishi Kapoor thanked the entire film fraternity, remembered his grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor and also took the opportunity to ask everyone to bless and support his son who is going to be launched by Bhansali.

The most promising debut (female) saw a tie between Vidya Balan and Konkona Sen Sharma for "Parineeta" and "Page 3", respectively. Undoubtedly both of them were splendid in their roles.

Shiney Ahuja once again bagged the best promising debut (male) for "Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi" and 51-year-old director Pradeep Sarkar won the most promising director award for re-creating the magic of Sarat Chandra's classic novel "Parineeta" on screen.

There was a special award called Zee Sa Re Ga Ma Pa most popular track of the year award that went to the hit qawwali number "Kajra re" written by Gulzar and sung by pop singer Alisha Chinai in one of the biggest hits of 2005 "Bunty Aur Babli". The song was picturised on Amitbah, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.

Upcoming singer Shreya Ghoshal won the best playback singer (female award) for the song "Piyu bole" from "Parineeta" and music director-cum-singer Himesh Reshammiya won the best playback singer (male) for crooning the title song of "Aashiq Banaya Aapne".

The best music director award went to Shankar-Ehsan-Loy for "Bunty Aur Babli" and Swanand Kirkire won the best lyricist award for penning the poetic "Piyu bole" for "Parineeta".

The show was kick started by a superbly-choreographed, well-performed musical act that recapped the 50-years of Indian cinema.

Some of the highlights of the evening were - ace director Karan Johar, the host for the evening, made Sridevi, who keeps mum in public place, talk. She not only chatted with Karan but also told him that according to her, Amitabh was the best actor in Hindi film industry.

Ganesh Hegde pitched in for Abhishek, who was to perform but had to cancel the trip due to viral fever. Also, Mallika Sherawat, who was supposedly going to co-host the show with Karan, was conspicuous by her absence.

Unlike other award functions, which end after the award for best film of the year, Zee cine awards had saved the best for the last.

After the awards were presented, Shah Rukh Khan took centre stage and put up a much-appreciated performance that paid tribute to veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra for his contribution to Hindi cinema.

Shah Rukh along with Akshay Kumar, Saif, Rani, Preity Zinta, Esha Deol and Pakistani actress Meera enacted some of the hit numbers from Chopra's films including "Waqt", "Silsila", "Darr", "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge", "Hum Tum" and "Bunty Aur Babli".

The act ended with Chopra receiving a special award for his contribution to Indian cinema from Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam.

In the technical awards section the winners were - Best visual effects - V.G. Sarmant for "Dus"; Best song recording - Empire Studio for "Bunty Aur Babli"; Best re-recording - Anup Dev for "Paheli"; Best art direction - Muneesh Sappal for "Paheli"; Best cinematography - Ravi Chandran for "Black"; Renu Saluja award for best editing - Bela Sehgal for "Black"; Best dialogue - Rekha Nigam and Vidhu Vinod Chopra for "Parineeta"; Bhaskar screenplay award - Nagesh Kukunoor for "Iqbal"; Best story - Ruchi Narain, Sudhir Mishra and Shivkumar Subramaniam for "Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi"; Best background music - Monty Sharma for "Black"; Best action - Allan Amin and Gary Bexly for "Dus"; Best film processing - Manmohan Shetty for "Black"; Best publicity design - H.R. Enterprise for "Black"; Best costume - Subarna Rai Chaudhary for "Parineeta"; Best sound - Rahul Pookutty for "Black"; Best choreography - Vaibhavi Merchant for "Kajra re" ("Bunty Aur Babli").

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