MUMBAI: They said it wouldn't work. But we said we wouldn't say so until we'd tried. The response to the Indian Telly Awards Nominee's Nite held last night at the ITC Grand Maratha however outshot our wildest expectations by several miles.
 

Hosts Ali Asgar and Urvashi Dholakia
A novel initiative, the Nominees' Nite was intended to converge and felicitate all those who are deserving of the prestigious Telly (to be given away on 19 and 21 November).

Now in its third year, the Indian Telly Awards, instituted by Indiantelevision.com, celebrate excellence in the television industry, both on screen and off screen, and are the most credible and sought after honours in their arena.

The jury at the function - (Lto R) - Prasoon Joshi, Kiran Juneja, Rathikant Basu, Rakesh Sharma and Lekh Tandon
While only one of the contenders in each category will finally lay claim to the statuesque statuette, each candidate had his hour in the sun at the Grand Maratha as esteemed industry veterans, who had comprised the jury for the awards, presented each nominee with a certificate that honours his excellence in his chosen field. 

UTV"s Monisha Singh making her speech

Monisha Singh collects a certificate from jury member Kiran Joneja
The jam packed Ball Room 2 at the Grand Maratha (even standing room became a privilege when the party after the presentation reached a crescendo, proving without doubt that Indiantelevision has its finger firmly on the pulse of the television industry. Veteran producers like Prem Kishen

Malhotra of Cinevistaas rubbed shoulders with Star India senior VP, content and communciations Deepak Segal, MTV's vice president, creative Cyrus Oshidar, CNBCTV18 executive director Vandana Malik....the list goes on.

Cinevistaas' Prem Kishen Malhotra collects his certificate from Rathikant Basu

Shruti Ulfat, Divya Dutta and Raavee Gupta at the function
The glamour factor was out in full force with practically all the major luminaries on the small screen marking their presence - from Mohnish Behl, Niki Aneja, Shweta Salve, Deepshikha, Shivaji Satam, Sudha Chandran, Pallavi Joshi, Asawari Joshi, Yatin Karyekar, Hiten Tejwani, Nausheen Ali Sardar, Shweta Keswani, Mihir Mishra, Hussain, Maanav Gohil and Shweta Kawatra, veejay Kim, Aly Khan, Varun Vadola, Arjun Punj, Shakti Anand, Karishma Tanna, Gurdeep Kohli, Roopali Ganguly, there was nary a name that could not have been spotted at the venue. 
The broadcasters were represented healthily by Sony's Anupama Mandloi, Star's Deepak Segal and Channel V head Amar Deb, among others.

Actor Kiran Karmarkar being presented his certificate by indiantelevision.com founder CEO Anil Wanvari
Jury members including the venerable producer director Lekh Tandon, the gorgeous Kiran Juneja, filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, Mc Cann Erickson national creative director Prasoon Joshi, Broadcast Worldwide chairman Rathikant Basu, Javed Sayed gamely came up on stage when called by emcees Ali Asgar and Urvashi Dholakia to give away the certificates.

Shweta Kawatra collecting her certificate from Rathikant Basu

Child artiste Tanvi Hegde gets her certificate from veteran producer director Lekh Tandon

The packed hall sat entranced through a presentation on the history of the Telly Awards and the acts that interspersed the presentation ceremony. As the evening wore on, several artistes, directors, technical heads and the creative types flowed in, eager to mingle with the chosen few and mark their presence at a function that so obviously belonged to the entire television fraternity.