TOI: Zee Rishtey Awards --- Sharad

From old faces like Shoma Anand, Navneet Nishan, Sudesh Berry to the new lot of actors Rati Pandey, Ankita Lokhande and Gurmeet Chaudhary - a bevy of TV actors spiced up Zee Rishtey Awards that also marked the channel's 20-year-long journey.

The Saturday night event started off with a procession, which saw participation from the cast of the channel's current popular shows -"Pavitra Rishta", "Hitler Didi", "Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke", "Phir Subah Hogi...", "Afsar Bitiya", "Punar Vivah", "Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein", "Rab Se Sona Ishq" and "Ramayan".

Some came on a horse-driven carriage, while others atop cars and trucks. They were accompanied by 'dhol' beats, ensuring the right celebration mood at the Andheri Sports Complex.

Sonu Nigam, host of the show, entered the stage riding a bike, along with co-host Jay Bhanushali. Then started a melange of performances and full on entertainment.

"Dance India Dance Li'l Masters" finalists put up an impressive horror-themed dance performance. Dressed as ghosts and Dracula, they shook a leg on songs like "Yeh raat" and "Zinda".

Leading ladies from the ongoing shows were not far behind. They too thronged the stage and entertained the audiences with their performance on popular mujra numbers.

While Kratika Sengar of "Punar Vivah" grooved to "Dil mera muft ka", Narayani Shastri of"Phir Subah Hogi" danced to "Bedardi raja".

Vindhya Tiwari from "Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein" shook a leg on "In aankhon" and Ankita of "Pavitra Rishta" fame performed on "Jhalla".

Also present at the function were Rakhi Vijan, Gracy Singh, Sudhir Pandey, Pallavi Joshi, Shefali Shah, Rohit Roy, Mansi Joshi Roy, Seema Kapoor, Raj Zutshi, Kanwaljeet Singh, Omung Kumar of "One Minute" show fame, Sharad Kelkar, Divyanka Tripathi, Ratan Rajput, Iqbal Khan, Hiten Tejwani, Kinshuk Mahajan, Nandish Sandhu and Varun Badola, among others.

With the old faces in attendance, when Sonu sang a special song listing the names of all the shows that were aired on the channel since its inception in 1992, nostalgia gripped the atmosphere.

In short, it was fun and frolic all the way.

The awards will be aired on Zee TV Dec 2.