13th Asianet Film Awards given away

Big B’s love for Kerala and its superstars reflects in each word that he wrote on his blog and tweets that he posted during his recent visit to the state to be part of the 13th Ujala-Asianet Film Awards 2011 held recently at the Port Trust Stadium, Willington Island, Cochin.

Terming the Asianet Lifetime Achievement honour accorded to him at the function held at Kochi as ‘a humbling experience’, Amitabh Bachchan says, “I thought it would be just another presence they were asking, but they had a surprise in store and gave me a Lifetime Achievement, with an incredible presentation of my work through all these years. Such a moving and truly humbling moment for me… an evening I shall never forget.”

Words of praise were also showered on the richness of the show and on the talented participants of Idea Star Singer.

“As I arrived, I spent time with the Star Singer competitors…Such a wonderful bunch of young singers and so talented. They sang songs from my films, even though they are Malayalis and would have problems speaking Hindi, with such confidence and aplomb. Fascinating.”

From the Kerala attire to the time spent with stalwarts of Malayalam film industry, Mammootty and Mohanlal, Bachchan was especially appreciative of the ambience.

“The ‘dhoti’ and the top were a gift from the organisers, which I thought appropriate to wear and the ‘Angavastra’, the gold-lined silk draped over the shoulders are the respectful presentations from Mohanlal and Mammootty, as an honoured gift. The respect and dignity that they accord me humbles me to an extent that I’m unable to fathom or understand. I am but an ordinary individual that gets glorified through the medium that I work in. My medium needs recognition, dignity and respect. Not me. If there had been no medium there would have been no me. So I respect the profession that has given me the opportunity to be a part of it, and created for me a vehicle that I am privileged to ride from time to time,” Bachchan wrote.

Super Star Mohan Lal presented the life time achievement award to the epic hero in Indian Cinema, Amitab Bachchan . Asianet Managing Director K.Madhavan, and mega star Mammootty also honoured Big B for his outstanding contributions to Indian Film Industry.

Legendary playback singers Hariharan & Shreya Ghoshal entertained the audience with their magical voice.

The event was attended by a cross section of stars from South Indian film industry and have colourful programmes performed by leading Malayalam artistes along with a mix of stars from tollywood & bollywood. Jayaram, Vijay ( Tamil Super Star),Karthi( Tamil Actor), Sneha, Sheela Devi, Rehman, Jagathy Sreekumar, Manoj K.Jayan, Lakshmi Gopalaswami, Babu Antony, Menaka, Ranjini, Ambika, K.P.S.C. Lalitha, Sukumari, Annop Menon, Siddique, Narain, Maniyanpillai Raju, Rekha,Soniya Aggarwal, Dhanya Mari, Amala Paul, Mithra Kuriya, Sarayu, Shafna, Ranjith Menon, Munna,, Fazal Gaffur, Sabu Cheriyan, B.Unnikrishnan are some of the personalities who attend the function.

Pranjiyettan won the award for the best film, which was accepted by its producer and Director Ranjith and Lal won the award for the best director for the movie ‘In Ghost Inn”. Super Star Mohan Lal honoured as as the Asianet Golden Star Award for his outstanding performance in various movies .Mammootty won the best actor award for his role in ‘Pranjiyettan, Best Actor and Kutti Srank’ and Nayanthara for the best female actress for the film ‘ Body Gaurd.’ Actor Dilip and Actress Mamtha Mohandas was on hand to collect the popular awards for her outstanding performance in various movies.

Others who won awards include Jayasurya (Youth Icon of the Year), Innocent (best character artiste- male), Samvritha Sunil (best character artiste-female), Nedumudi Venu (best Supporting Actor), Lakshmi Priya (best supporting actress), Asif Ali (best villain), Suraj Venjaramoodu (best actor in a comic role) and Kunchacko Boban –Archana Kavi (best star couple). Murugan Kattakada (lyricist ), M.G.Sreekumar (music director), Hariharan (playback singer- male), Shreya Ghoshal (playback singer-female), Baby Anikha & Master Alaxander (child artiste), Sathyan Anthikad (Script Writer ), Venu (cameraman ), Arun Kumar (editor ), debut artiste Ann Augustine and Sreenivasan (Special Jury awards) .

Other cine Stars such as Lakshmi Rai, Meghna Raj, Meera Nandan, Remya Nambeesan, Anuya Bhagavath, Teja Sree, Reema Kallingal, and other comedy artistes from TV/ Film industry ,Playback Singers in the lines of K.S.Chithra, M.G.Sreekumar, Suvi Suresh, G.Venugopal, & other programmes like Attakalari, Salsa Dance, Classical dance performance entertained the viewers numbering in thousands.

The event was directed and coordinated by Asianet Event Management team led by MR Rajan & B.S.Praveen Kumar