Jodhaa Akbar bags top honours at IIFA

The tenth year of IIFA surpassed all expectations with a spectacular show that saw epic movie Jodhaa Akbar bag most of the top Awards.

The film won the coveted Best Picture Award, while Ashutosh Gowarikar won the award for Best Director and Hrithik Roshan for Best Actor for Jodhaa Akbar. Celebrating a decade of magic, the IDEA IIFA Awards show was held at the Venetian, Macao-Resort-Hotel, that played host to the three days Videocon IIFA Weekend.

Priyanka Chopra won the Award for Best Actress for her much acclaimed role in Fashion, while her co-star Kangana Ranawat won the Award for her performance as supporting female actor. Arjun Rampal came out victorious for Best Male performance in a supporting role for Rock On. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by IIFA Brand Ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan to Rajesh Khanna, who received a standing ovation from the packed arena.

Abhishek Bachchan won the Award for best performance in a comic role for his hilarious character in Dostana, while Akshaye Khanna won for Best performance in a negative role for Race. Neeraj Pandey’s powerful film, ‘A Wednesday’ won the Award for Best Story.

To commemorate the last decade in Indian Cinema, the Videocon IIFA Golden Decade Honors were instituted and presented at the Idea IIFA Awards. The Male Star of the Decade went to Shah Rukh Khan, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won in the female category. Movie of the decade went to Lagaan, with Rakesh Roshan winning Director of the decade and the talented AR Rahman won the award for Music of the decade. The star debut of the year was awarded to Asin and Farhan Akhtar. The IIFA and Green globe Foundation presented an Award to Rahul Bose for his contribution to creating awareness on global warming.

Other categories that featured Jodhaa Akbar wins were Music Direction by AR Rahman, and Javed Akhtar and Javed Ali for Best Lyrics and Best Playback Singer (Male) respectively for the hit song, Jashan-e-Baharaa from Jodhaa Akbar.

The action packed show had stellar performances by Sonam Kapoor, jacky Bhagnani, Bipasha Basu, Anoushka Sharma, Govinda, Riteish Deshmukh and Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, as well as an impromptu Antakshri session which Amitabh Bachchan concluded.

This electrifying awards presentation ceremony will be beamed to a global audience and reach out to more than 500 million households on STAR TV, IDEA IIFA Awards broadcast partner. The 10th IDEA IIFA Awards ceremony will be telecast on Star TV on July 5th, 2009.

--SAMPURN