On the 4th November, '12, The Indian Television Academy celebrated the 12th year of its crowning endeavour, 'The ITA Awards' that have, today, become the most coveted stamp of excellence on the canvas of Television.
At Andheri Sports Complex in suburban Mumbai, this biggest night of the Small Screen was held with rare razzle-dazzle. The venue was awash with the who's who of TV-industry, who were either performing or were nominees or presenters there in the Event. While each Award was cheered lustily by all of those present, the Ceremony was punctuated with jaw-dropping performances and acts, done by today's biggest TV-heartthrobs like, Gurmeet Choudhary, Hina Khan, Nia Sharma, Angad Haseja, Ritwik Dhanjani, Rati Pandey, Deepika Singh, Drashti Dhami, Amir Ali, Karan Wahi, Jay Bhanushali, Manish Raisinghani, Anirudh Dave and so on.
A specially designed and dazzlingly executed act comprised the fabulous li'l mastters of Dance India Dance with the Stars of Jhalak Dikhla Ja. Besides, the goings-on were spiced by the rip-roaring anchoring by Ridhi Dogra, Karan Grover and Karan Kundra, while the Red-carpet was handled by Neelu Waghela (Bhaabho in 'Diya Bati'') and Utkarsha Naik (Manorama in 'Iss Pyar Ko...')!
One of the major highlights of the evening were the ITA Honours conferred on four of our Olympian victors this year- Sushil Kumar (Silver Medal- 'Wrestling'), Vijay Kumar (Silver Medal- 'Shooting'), Gagan Narang (Bronze Medal- 'Shooting') and Yogeshwar Dutt (Bronze Medal- 'Wrestling')!
This year, 'The ITA Scroll of Honour ' Global Recognition' was accorded to Anil Kapoor for his achievements in Films as well as Television. It was particularly to commemorate his efforts to bring Indian Television at par with global standards by attempting an Indian version of the iconic Fox series, '24'. The honour was presented by yesteryears' Superstar, Jeetendra.
The Ceremony had an overwhelming touch of nostalgia when Salma Sultan, Alok Nath and Neena Gupta took to the mike to wax eloquent about Television through the years.
Says Shashi Ranjan, Convener, The ITA'
'The ITA Awards is no more an Event, today ' it is, in fact, TV's Mahakumbh, where the who's who of TV-fraternity comes to celebrate the glory of Indian Television. And trust me, this reputation is earned with the hardest possible toil and trouble.
'Even more than that, the core thing here in the genuineness of the endeavour that is solely and totally in the service of Television. We are privileged to have the unstinted support of the Fraternity and we would continue to be worthy of their trust ' that's a promise!'
Anu Ranjan, President, The ITA elaborates further on that'
'You see, The ITA Awards is only one of a kind where the entire TV-fraternity gathers to cheer each other's achievements. Like the Olympics, it is 'participation' that is more important here than anything else, including winning. It's like an annual festival of joy for the Industry and the fact that we are in our 12th year of such a celebrated existence speaks volumes about the difference The ITAA has made to excellence in the medium!'
In sum, with that awesome set, those blinding acts and the 'bestest' of the 'bests' of TV this year being decorated there, the 12th year of The ITA Awards created historic moments of Television, for Television and by Television! |
CID
