Small screen’s big favourites

T HEY CLAIM their work on the small screen kept them too busy to catch up with all the big screen ac- tion of the past year. From Mukesh Khanna (who politely declined to list his favourites, as Black was the only film he saw last year) to Abhay Vakil, who plans to get a portable DVD this year so that he can update him- self on Bollywood releases be- tween work breaks, or Rakshan- da Khan and Rajeshwari Sachdev who had to be remind- ed about the year's top films to make their pick from — every- one however agreed that Bolly- wood may not have got bigger, but it got better in 2005. As the awards season felicitating the 'Best of 2005' unfolds for Bolly- wood this week, starting with the Hero Honda Star Screen Weekly and Stardust Awards, we asked some popular TV ac- tors to pick their favourite win- ners for 2005. Deven Bhojani: While in the previous years we have had occasional experi- ments with different subjects, this year Bollywood did raise a toast to sensitive and small budget cinema like Page 3 and Iqbal, which were popular with- out a big star cast. Even Black which had big stars was devoid of the trappings of commercial cinema, like having songs. Best Actor – Amitabh Bachchan (Waqt) Best Actress – Rani Mukherjee (Black) Best Film – Iqbal Best Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Black) Best Music – Bunty Aur Babli Smriti Iraani: I was totally enamoured by the entire concept of Black. It was one of the few films of the year that I went to see in a theatre and was moved to see the audi- ence give it a standing ovation at the end of the screening. Best Actor – Amitabh Bachchan (Black) Best Actress – Rani Mukherjee (Black) Best Film – Black Best Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Black) Best Music – Parineeta Sachin Pilgaokar: Bollywood seems to be concen- trating more on technique and special effects, instead of con- tent. Best Actor – Amitabh Bachchan (Viruddh) Best Actress – Rani Mukherjee (Black) Best Film – Page 3 Best Director – Madhur Bhandarkar (Page 3) and Ram Gopal Verma (Sarkar) Best Music – Parineeta Rakshanda Khan: Had I seen Page 3, Iqbal and Parineeta it would have been dif ficult for me to make a choice, bust since I haven't seen them, all my votes are for Black. Best Actor – Amitabh Bachchan (Black) Best Actress – Rani Mukherjee (Black) Best Film – Black Best Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Black) Best Music – Salaam Namaste Ajay Gehi: Naseeruddin Shah and Amitabh Bachchan ruled in a year that had Kajra re up the music quotient. Best Actor – Naseeruddin Shah (Iqbal) Best Actress – Rani Mukherjee (Black) Best Film – Iqbal Best Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Black) Best Music – Bunty Aur Babli Rajeshwari Sachdev: Cheers to good cinema — that was Bollywood for me in 2005! Best Actor – Amitabh Bachchan (Black) Best Actress – Rani Mukherjee (Black) & Vidya Balan (Parineeta) Best Film – Black and Iqbal Best Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Black) Best Music – Salaam Namaste Abhay Vakil: Himesh Reshammiya's music rocked Bollywood this year. My favourites are Zeher and Aashiq Banaya Aapne. Best Actor – Aamir Khan (Mangal Pandey – The Rising) Best Actress – Rani Mukherjee (Black) Best Film – Parineeta Best Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Black) Best Music – Zeher Nikki Aneja: I saw very few Hindi films this year. Although Mangal Pandey – The Rising wasn't a g reat movie, my vote for the Best Actor is still for my favourite actor Aamir Khan Best Actor – Aamir Khan (Mangal Pandey – The Rising) Best Actress – Rani Mukherjee (Black) Best Film – Parineeta Best Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Black) Best Music – Zeher