Bollywood puts tradition in the back!

Veronica Lee reviews the Indian Film Awards at the Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield

A common Western view of Bollywood films is that they last several hours, and have lots of song-and-dance numbers, shedloads of characters and the full range of emotions. Well, apparently, so do International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards ceremonies.

This one clocked in at 6 hours, was chock-full of high-energy musical interludes and seemingly had every member of the Bollywood industry presenting or collecting an award.

And, yes, there were tears.

But that's to be churlish, because the Bollywood Oscars, as they're known colloquially, provided more entertainment than ennui and explained why the Indian film industry's willingness to move on from traditional fare is giving it an increasingly international profile.

One fantastically well-staged musical number followed another. Shilpa Shetty performed a wittily teasing routine, while heart-throbs Abhishek Bachchan, Aftab Shivdasani and Saif Ali Khan kept the ladies happy with theirs. But Akshay Kumar topped them all with a quite stunning number performed with UK Bhangra-hip-hop band RDB.

The main awards (of the 20-odd being presented) were noticeable for favouring non-traditional Bollywood fare. Best actor went to Hrithik Roshan for Krrish, India's first superhero movie; best actress was Rani Mukherji, for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, in which she plays an unfaithful wife; and Rang De Basanti won best film.

Its director described it as "a landmark in Indian cinema", dealing as it does with a cross-cultural relationship and social commentary.

There's a way to go, however. Deepa Mehta took the award for international achievement for her Fire, Earth and Water trilogy, the last part of which was Oscar nominated and caused huge controversy in India because it features a lesbian love story.

As she said after receiving her award: "This is so much better than having your effigy burnt." But there was only polite applause among the VIPs, in stark contrast to the standing ovations given to two other greats, the director Basu Chatterjee and the actor Dharmendra Deol, when they received their special awards.

Then, though, as if to underline the point of bringing the awards to the UK, home to the largest Asian population outside the subcontinent, newcomer of the year was Upen Patel, a 25-year-old Londoner. "I hope you'll be seeing a lot more of me - and a lot more British Asians - in Bollywood," he said.