9th Annual Bollywood Movie Awards 2007

Featuring a fabulous blend of award-wining talents including directors Mira Nair, writer and director Rajkumar Hirani, and one of Hollywood’s most distinguished character actors Danny Glover who looked positively regal in his pink kurta and pajama, the Bollywood Movie Awards 2007 were presented on May 26 at the Nassau Coliseum in New York.

Even the billionaire Donald Trump spared a few minutes, after receiving an award from the Bollywood Group Chairman, Kamal Dandona, and his son Rajiv, to record a message praising the organization for building bridges between Hollywood and Bollywood. Many events including the Bollywood Music Awards organized by Dandona are held at his Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.

Critics of the awards may rightly say that they hold no surprises — practically every Bollywood talent who was there took an award, including Bipasha Basu (Corporate, lead actress), Vivek Oberoi (Omkara, supporting actor) and Kirron Kher (Rang De Basanti, supporting actress).

Soha Ali Khan didn’t win an award, but picked up the trophy for Best Actor In A Negative Role for brother Saif, in Omkara.

Rajkumar Hirani received awards for writing and directing Lage Raho Munna Bhai, also declared the best film of the year.

The Nassau Coliseum, with a seating capacity of about 20,000, was just half full. And yet the show — which also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Asha Parekh, the star of many perennial hits such as Kati Patang and Upkar — was a crowd pleaser especially with Bipasha Basu and and Vivek Oberoi’s Beedi performance.

Apart from Bipasha and Metro star Kangna Ranaut setting the stage afire, there was plenty of nostalgia.

While Asha Parekh thanked the audiences for remembering her much after her departure from films, there was veteran actor Suresh Oberoi receiving the Omkara award for his son Vivek.

And Soha gushed about Said that his work deserves a Best Actor award too, but that later went to Hritik Roshan for Dhoom 2. And Kirron Kher, returned to the stage a second time to take Anupam Kher’s Best Comic Role award for the small budget comedy hit, Khosla Ka Ghosla.

And there was quite a bit of nostalgia when Nair, whose The Namesake is showing in more than 200 theaters in North America in its 12th week, thanked Bollywood for giving her a raft of great artists — from Naseeruddin Shah to Irrfan Khan to Tabu — who have appeared in her films. India, with its heart as bountiful as an ocean, has always provided inspiration for her work said Nair whose first feature film, the Oscar nominated Salaam Bombay! was shot in the city of its title.

Nair received her Pride of India from Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, Dreamgirls, and the recent Shooter). The veteran Hollywood actor, active in anti-apartheid causes, and a backer of small budget, independent films — including recent festival favourite Bamako — was given an award for global entertainment and understanding.

Glover, one of the highest paid Hollywood character actors — who received over $8 million for the 1998 hit Lethal Weapon 4 — is one of the most outspoken of actors. He is also a friend of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. He has said on many occasions: ‘Every day of my life I walk with the idea I am black, no matter how successful I am.’

Glover spoke almost in a whisper, applauding Bollywood for its strong storytelling tradition, and wished he could find a role in a Bollywood film.

Backstage, he told a few admirers that he loves films that speak from the heart and deal with social problems, and his understanding is that Indian films take a pride in doing so.

Hirani, currently shooting Munna Bhai Chale Amrika, disclosed that he wrote much of the three scripts in Ohio, home of his co-writer Abhijit Joshi who teaches English in a college there.

At the end of the evening, you could debate the real scene-stealer, Bipasha or Vivek Oberoi?

At one point of Vivek’s performance, he disappeared from the stage and a few minutes later, entered through one of the back entrances, on a trolley rolling through the aisles, followed by over a dozen dancing young women hired by the organisers. What a finale.

Finally, while some of the biggest applause in the evening was reserved for Bips, one must say relative old-timer Urmila Matondkar was also well received.

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Awards // Bipasha Basu // Kangana Ranaut // Soha Ali Khan // Urmila Matondkar