Golden Moments

After almost two decades Sanjay Dutt won his first award, Best Actor, for Vaastav... Our batty host, Cyrus Broacha made a bakra of everyone... Atal Behari Vajpayee adjudged Best Lyricist for his poetry in Nayi Disha... Fire and Frolic
After almost two decades Sanjay Dutt won his first award, Best Actor, for Vaastav... Our batty host, Cyrus Broacha made a bakra of everyone... Atal Behari Vajpayee adjudged Best Lyricist for his poetry in Nayi Disha... Golden Moments
Screen was completing 50 glorious years and decided to celebrate the occasion with Dev Anand whose Navketan was in its golden jubilee year and BR Chopra who was also completing five decades in the film industry... It was the night of the Roshans... Rakesh Roshan picked up awards for Best Film and Best Director, Rajesh Roshan was adjudged Best Music Director and Hrithik Roshan accepted two awards, for Best Debut (Male) and Best Actor ... Tabu at last won a popular award for a not-so-popular film, Astitva...

2000
6th ANNUAL SCREEN AWARDS
Our batty host for the evening, Cyrus Broacha had the entire auditorium up on their feet, to pay condolence to editor Jahangeer Candlewala. It took a few minutes for the realisation to sink in that the MTV veejay had made a bakra out of everyone because the dear departed was only a figment of his imagination!

The set was spectacular...The event more so...The French group Liz Van Zon da Bahadi were a smash hit. Bombay Vikings sparkled with popular remixes like 'O mera sona re...' and 'Kya soorat hai...' When it comes to paisa vasool entertainment though our desis are a match for any phirang and Akshay Kumar proved it by drumming up a cresendo with 'Dholi taro...', the title track of Dil Se... and the theme music of Taal. The Queen of Oomph, Urmila came 'Chamma chammaing' on stage and left everyone mast!

Another Malhotra who mesmerized...with his designs...was Manish Malhotra. Urmila along with Bipasha Basu and John Abraham, faces that would stop the traffic in the coming years, walked the ramp to showcase his ensembles. And then there was Aishwarya Rai... As she twirled to the tunes of 'Kariye na...', 'Taal se taal mila...' and the theme music of Taal, ice melted and fire raged... After almost two decades Sanjay Dutt won his first award when he was adjudged Best Actor for his soul-stirring performance in Vaastav. He made a lovely picture with wife Rhea and invited his "brother" and buddy Mahesh Manjrekar (who is also the film's director) on stage to share his moment in the spotlight. Anil Kapoor accepted the award for Best Supporting Actor for Taal with his son, Harshvardhan looking on proudly. Ashok Saraf's son, Aniket actually went on stage to accept the trophy for Best Actor (Marathi) on his behalf as Ashok was stuck in a traffic jam. Sanjay Leela Bhansali was adjudged Best Director for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam that was also voted Best Film. It fetched the Best Actress Award for Aishwarya Rai and the Best Playback Singer (Female) Award for Kavita Krishnamoorthi. It also picked up top honours for Best Screenplay (Sanjay Bhansali and Kenneth Philips), Best Dialogue (Amrik Gil), Best Cinematography (Anil Mehta), Best Art Director (Nitin Chandrakant Desai), Best Choreography (Saroj Khan) and Best Special Effects (Ramesh Meer). The former Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress for her gutsy performance as the other woman in Salman Khan's life in Biwi No. 1. Legendary music director, Naushad came out of hibernation to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mona Ambegaonkar (Nyay), Achint Kaur (Saaya) and Mansi Joshi (Saaya) jointly shared the award for Best Performance on Television (Female). One of our most famous winners was Atal Behari Vajpayee who won the award for Best Lyricist in the Non-Film Music category for his poetry in Nayi Disha. The award was presented to him at his residence, where he recited a few couplets from his poem, 'Geet naya gaata hoon...' exclusively for the viewers of the Screen Awards function. Another moment of glory took place when Amitabh Bachchan eulogised the pride of our country, Lata Mangeshkar, who came up on the stage to pay homage to her illustrious father, the late Dinanath Mangeshkar and then beguiled the audience with a rendition of the Saraswati Vandana. The rarest of rare accomplishments however, was the tribute to and the gathering of all, who were alive and present at the time, of the three-generation families of Shamshad Begum, Tarachand Barjatya, Nanabhai Bhatt, Ashok Kumar, Jadanbai, Prithviraj Kapoor, Jayant, Sashadhar Mukherjee, AK Nadiadwala, Roshan, Ramanand Sagar, Shobhna Samarth, V Shantaram and GP Sippy on stage. Screen paid a worthy salute to these families, whose contribution to cinema is beyond measure. 2001
7th ANNUAL SCREEN AWARDS
Screen was completing 50 glorious years and an appropriate tribute was given by Shabana Azmi. She alluded to how Screen had stood by the industry all these years, through thick and thin, which is the very reason the industry deems it as its own voice. The programme commenced with Meenakshi Seshadri performing a scintillating classical number before a giant statue resembling the golden lady was unveiled. The multi-faceted Adnan Sami then left the audience awestruck with his 'Kabhi toh nazar milao...', an exclusive piano sonata, followed by the popular and peppy 'Lift kara de...'. The king of action and acrobatics, Akshay Kumar, returned to entice viewers with 'Chhan chhananana...' followed by Urmila Matondkar who also dazzled for the second straight year. Anil Kapoor took a trip down memory lane with a compilation of evergreen hits including 'Ek ladki ko dekha...', 'Chhup gaya...', 'Paayalein chunmun...', 'Kaate nahee katte...', 'Sunta hai mera khuda...', 'Ramta jogee...' and finally, 'Dil yeh bechain vey...'. The songs chosen were with his entire array of leading ladies from Sridevi, Madhuri and Kajol to Tabu, Manisha and Aishwarya. We loved Jimmy Shergil, Jugal Hansraj, Uday Chopra, Shamita Shetty, Preeti Jhangiani and Kim Sharma for their Mohabbatein moments while Rani proved why she's come to be known as the Queen of Hearts as she swung to the tunes of 'Usey hansna bhi hoga...' and 'Piya piya...' from Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega. And then there was Aishwarya Rai...again! This time she performed to a medley of hits from Mohabbatein, Pukaar, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rahta Hai, Mission Kashmir and Josh. And it was pure magic! Screen shares her birthday with Dev Anand — September 26—whose banner, Navketan, was also in its golden jubilee year. Another living legend, BR Chopra was also completing five decades in the industry that had wooed him away from journalism way back in 1951. We decided to celebrate our big day with these two stalwarts who had been so much a part of our growing up years. The ever-youthful Dev Anand bounded up on stage to accept his special award from an old friend, Yash Chopra. For the 86-year-old BR Chopra however who had suddenly lost the use of his legs, we had a ramp built from the car park to the stage. His wheelchair was to be rolled up all the way to the spotlight. However, few hours before the event, Choprasahab suddenly felt faint and none of his doctors would let him go ahead with his grandiose plans. We missed him but didn't miss his speech. It arrived on Monday morning to be reproduced in the special issue of Screen. Lata Mangeshkar was presented with the newly instituted Noorjehan Award in memory of her muse and the Mallika-e-Tarranum who had recently passed away. It was an honour didi accepted with touching modesty from Madhuri Dixit. Both had a lot to talk about back-stage, in rapid-fire Marathi. Pran had the spotlight turned on him when he went up on stage to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award from Amrish Puri saying emotionally, "Mera naam Pran hai lekin aap sab mere pran hain..." Hrithik Roshan accepted his life's first award for Best Debutant from Shah Rukh Khan whose impromptu speech was the talk of the town for days after. The gorgeous Rekha made the night even more unforgettable for the Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai hero when soon after in her husky voice she announced the winner of the Best Actor award, "It's Duggu, my baby!" It was the night of the Roshans as papa Rakesh also picked up awards for Best Film and Best Director. Uncle Rajesh Roshan was adjudged Best Music Director. Hrithik's mother Pinky, sister Sunaina, wife Suzanne and sister-in-law Farah looked on smilingly at the men who had done them proud. The only Roshan missing was Rakesh and Rajesh's father, the late composer, Roshan. "Wish he was here to see his family in all its glory," murmured Rakesh with a hint of bitter-sweet regret. Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai also gave Sanjay Varma the award for Best Editor while Lucky Ali got lucky with the Best Singer Award for 'Ek pal ka jeena...' for which Farah Khan also received the award for Best Choreographer. The only film to pose any competition to Kaho Naa...'s winning run was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Mission Kashmir that picked up awards for Best Sound Recording, Best Cinematography and Best Action. An exuberant Chopra and an excited Hrithik also accepted the award for Best Supporting Actor for Sanjay Dutt who was in Mahabaleshwar shooting for Mahesh Manjrekar's Pitaah. Manjrekar's Astitva won him the award for Best Story and also a Special Jury award. Tabu had been very disappointed when she had lost the much-anticipated Best Actress award for Maachis to Karisma Kapoor (Raja Hindustani) a couple of years ago. She didn't want to go through the pain of losing again and was in two minds about whether to attend the function or not. But her fears turned to tears of joy when Rekha announced her name for Best Actress. She had at last won a popular award for a not-so-popular film, Astitva.

Most Promising Newcomer, Shilpa Navalkar (daughter of Pramod Navalkar, Minister of Cultural Affairs) was visibly pregnant and equally delighted to win her first ever award for a sensitive performance in Kairee.