On 1st November, '14, the Andheri Sports Club witnessed the biggest night of the Small Screen - The ITA Awards. Now in the 14th year of a highly celebrated existence, these Awards have become the most coveted stamp of merit in the Medium. Even more than that, it has become the annual festival of joy for the entire TV industry that makes it a point to participate in it in full strength, year after year.
And this year was no exception, either. The Entries in the contest from the industry reached a newer high once again and name a Show, Production-house or Channel and they were there, participating.
The Award ceremony was marked by rare razzle-dazzle, while the 'Bests' of Television were being saluted and celebrated by The ITA. There were stunning performances by TV heartthrobs like Ashish Sharma, Karan Tacker, Rithwik Dhanjani and Gautam Rode, who shook their legs along with hotties like, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Nia Sharma, Paridhi Sharma, Krystal D'Souza, Disha Parmar, Devoleena Bhattacharjee, Toral Rasputra and Dipika Samson, while the icing on the cake was the dancing wonder of Small Screen - Salman Khan. In addition, there was a performance by the volcanic veterans like Neelu Waghela, Jayati Bhatia and Smita Bansal that swept the audience off their feet.
the most memorable highlight of the evening was, 'The ITA Laurel for Sterling Service to the Nation', an honour conferred upon Army officers, who did outstanding work in the rescue operations to save human lives during the calamitous floods that struck J & K, recently. Amongst those accorded this signal recognition were Group Captain Ashish Singh (Vayu Sena Medalist), besides Wind Commander, Rosha, Wing Commander Gopi Mohan and others. This was a rarest of rare occasions when such top-notch Army officers agreed to receive an honour at a Civil platform.
The evening was anchored by the frothy foursome of Rithwik Dhanjani, Nakul Mehta, Rajiv Thakur and Chandan.
An apparently elated Anu Ranjan, President, The ITA said, 'We are truly humbled that The ITA Awards have touched the 14th year, today. In this decade-plus journey, we have crossed many milestones and in doing so, we have received implicit trust & goodwill of the TV-fraternity. We have always proved ourselves worthy of this trust and would continue to do so for many more years to come!'
Shashi Ranjan, Convenor, The ITA, elaborated further - 'We have been on DD, Zee, Sony and Star. And now, we would be completing our circle of prime-most GEC's in the country as the Award-ceremony would be telecast on Colors, this year. The ITA Awards belong to one & all in Indian Television and that's one achievement we are so proud of!'