MUMBAI: Looks like Arbaaz Khan‘s Dabaang will sweep most awards this year. This became evident when the Salman Khan-Sonakshi Sinha starrer lapped up eight awards in different categories at the Chevrolet Apsara Awards 2011. However, the best actress award was shared by Vidya Balan (Ishqiya) and Anushka Sharma (Band Baaja Baraat).
The event grew in importance when Dharmendra was conferred the lifetime achievement award upon completion of 50 years in the Hindi film industry.
Dabaang bagged trophies for categories like best film, best actor (Salman Khan); best direction (Abhinav Kashyap); best female singer (Mamta Sharma); best performance in negative role (Sonu Sood); best female debut (Sonakshi Sinha); best music (Sajid-Wajid); best dialogues (Abhinav Kashyap) and best male singer (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan).
The audience, however, were sad because Salman Khan and Abhinav Kashyap couldn‘t come personally to collect their awards.
Following Dabangg in the awards tally was Yash Raj‘s Band Baaja Baraat that lapped up six awards. It won in categories like best editing (Namrata Rao); best art director (T.P Abid and Sonal Choudhry); best costume design (Niharika Khan); best actress (Anushka Sharma); best debut director (Maneesh Sharma) and best male debut (Ranveer Singh).
The technical awards given away on the ocassion were Best cinematography - Sudeep Chatterji for Guzaarish and Santosh Sivan & V. Manikandan for Raavan; Best sound recording - Pritam Das for Love Sex Aur Dhoka; Best special effects- Prime Focus for Guzaarish; Best re-recording - Tapan Nayak for Raavan; Best lyrics - Gulzar for Ishqiya, Best screenplay - Rajat Arora for Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai; Best story - Anusha Rizvi for Peepli Live; Best choreography - Farah Khan for Tees Maar Khan, Best comic performance - Paresh Rawal in Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?; Best actor in a supporting role - Arjun Rampal for Raajneeti; Best actress in a supporting role - Prachi Desai and Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai.
From this year onwards, the Film and Television Producers Guild started a new category called the President honour for outstanding achievement in cinema. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan received the same for their performance in Guzaarish while Sanjay Leela Bhansali got the same for directing the film.
The evening witnessed power-packed performances by Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Govinda and Anushka Sharma was attended by many Bollywood celebrities like Dharmendra, Rani Mukerji, Sunny Deol, Karan Johar, Aishwarya Rai, Katrina Kaif, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal and Yash Chopra among many others.
