Tabu’s back with a Bang!

Tabu was looking stunning at the 54th Idea Filmfare Awards, ok! Having slimmed down, she looked great in a gown, so much so that we could easily discount her not-so-lady-like long strides, each of which ended with a heavy thud! 

There were enough and more complaints about our lady gorgeous, too! “Where is she? We want to see her more in the movies!” But Tabs didn’t stop to answer any questions and wasn’t in the mood for polite conversations either. Alas! Some things just don’t change in Bollywood! 

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Sonam's 1st Bollywood Actress to get specially designed Chanel Gown

Sonam Kapoor's metamorphosis as a fashion diva came full circle on Saturday night at the Filmfare awards. She became the only Bollywood actress to wear a specially-designed gown by Chanel.

Feel like Cinderella

The ebullient actress could barely contain her excitement. "I just kept staring at the beautiful, basic but simple white gown they sent me.

Yes, I think I'm the first Indian celebrity to be dressed by Chanel in Bollywood. I'm so excited. I felt like Cinderella before the ball. Never before have I been so excited about dressing up for an event."

Apparently, after seeing Sonam's spate of sophisticated magazine covers, Chanel voluntarily decided to send her a gown from their special-celebrity closet.

"That's right. My off-shoulder gown came from their special-celebrity collection," laughs Sonam triumphantly. "They just flew over three Chanel gowns for me to choose from.

I liked the white one. I prefer light shades. And I avoid accessories. They take away from the basic look of your clothes.

And what Chanel sent me for the Filmfare awards certainly needed no enchancement. It was divine, per se."

A lot of designers are comparing Sonam to Penelope Cruz. "It was Sanjay Leela Bhansali who first compared me to her. I think it's a huge compliment.

It isn't as if I'm making a conscious effort to dress fashionably. I wear what I'm comfortable in."

Sonam loves dressing up in light shades and avoids accessories.

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Ashley Rebello Reveals Amrita's bridal entourage design

Amrita Arora will finally be getting married to the man of her dreams Shakeel Ladhak on March 4.

Designer talk

The man who has designed her church wedding, mehendi and nikaah outfits and the bridesmaids' outfits, Ashley Rebello, talks about them.

"I have designed Amrita's wedding gown, Malaika Arora (maid of honour), Kareena Kapoor and Mallika Bhat (bridesmaids), Arpita Khan, Alvira Agnihotri's daughter (flower girl), and Wardha Nadiadwala's outfits as well as Salman Khan's suit for the church wedding.

All the outfits took a month for me to design and were created with several inputs from Amrita. She was very clear about what she wanted simple, stylish, elegant. Amrita didn't want anything over the top.

I am also designing Amu's nikaah and mehendi outfits. We did a lot of research and took many pictures from the inter net before we finalised the designs.

We had trials of the outfits in malmal with Amrita before making the final outfits. Alvira is having a mehendi for Amu on March 5, where Amrita's wearing a gold brocade lehenga with borders of crepe in maroon red and ink blue.

Salman's church outfit will be a linen suite in light beige or off-white with a tuxedo style shirt in cream."

The wedding outfit

This vintage white gown with Swarovski crystals and rice pearls scattered all over is made of Chantilly and Emilio Ungaro lace.

It took 15 days for the design to be finalised.

It has a tube stretch satin lining, high neck, small sleeves, is fitted over the hips, with full back open, and flares out from below the knee into many pleats.

Amrita's jewellery will consist of a simple white gold-and-diamond set specially designed at a Bandra jeweller.

The nikaah outfit

Amrita's lehenga in emerald green is made of crepe and brocade with netted dupatta. The lehenga has gota work and dull beautiful old zardozi work all over.

The lehenga has an antique look.

Ashley has also deigned Shakeel's nikaah outfit which is a chikan Pathani suit in off white, with dull gold piping.

Outfits for the bridesmaids

Maid of honour Malaika and bridesmaids Kareena and Mallika will wear outfits in the same color caramel and peach.

While Malaika's outfit will be a toga-style georgette dress with pleated shades of caramel and peach, Kareena and Mallika will wear wrap-around off-shoulder dresses of the same colours with peach-colored dog roses at one shoulder.

Atul and Alvira Agnihotri's daughter, Alizeh, who is the flower girl, will wear a pretty pink sequinned long gown.
Wardha will wear a sunflower yellow dress with diamante work all over.

All will hold small posies of lilies.

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Hrithik, Priyanka Declared Best Actors

Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra were declared the best male and female actors respectively at the glittering 54th Idea Filmfare Awards ceremony in Mumbai late Saturday night.

Hrithik won the award for essaying the role of Emperor Akbar in "Jodhaa Akbar", while Priyanka walked away with the black lady statuette for her performance in "Fashion".

"Jodhaa Akbar" pipped "Dostana", "Ghajini", "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na", "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi", and "Rock On!!" to win the best film trophy, while the best director award went to Ashutosh Gowariker for "Jodhaa Akbar".

Held at the Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai, the evening saw a plethora of Bollywood's Who's Who dressed in their fanciest best walking the red carpet at the event.

Here’s the list of winners at the 54th Filmfare Awards 2009:

Best Film - Jodha Akbar

Best Director - Ashutosh Gowarikar (Jodha Akbar)

Best Actor - Hrithik Roshan - (Jodha Akbar)

Best Actress - Priyanka Chopra - Best Actress (Fashion)

Best Supporting Actor - Arjun Rampal (Rock On)

Best Supporting Actress - Kangna Ranaut (Fashion)

Best Debut (Male) - Farhan Akhtar (Rock On) & Imraan Khan (Jaane Tu)

Best Debut (Female) - Asin (Ghajini)

Lifetime Achievement Award - Om Puri & Bhanu Athaiya’

Best Music Director - AR Rahman (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)

Best Playback Singer (Male) - Sukhwinder Singh (Haule Haule - Rab Ne Bana De Jodi)

Best Playback Singer (Female) - Shreya Ghoshal (Singh is Kinng)

Best Background Score - AR Rahman (Jodha Akbar)

RD Burman Upcoming Talent - Benny Dayal (Ghajini)

Sony Filmfare Best Scene Award: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Best Story - Abhishek Kapoor (Rock On)

Best Costumes - Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Best Cinematography - Jason West (Rock On!)

Best Editing - Amit Pawar (Mumbai Meri Jaan)

Best Choreography - Longinus (Jaane Tu)

Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar (Jashn-e-Bahara, Jodha Akbar)

Best Sound Design - Vinod Subramanyam (Rock On)

Best Visual Effects - John Deitz (Love Story 2050)

Best Action - Peter Heinn (Ghajini)

Critics Awards

Best Actress: Shahana Goswami for Rock On!

Best Actor: Manjit Singh for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Best Jury Award: Nishikant Kamat for Mumbai Meri Jaan

Special jury mention to Prateik Babbar and Purab Kohli for Jaane Tu ... and Rock On!

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India Gets its first Female Indian Idol

After four years of its running, popular music reality show "Indian Idol" finally got its first female winner in the form of Sourabhee Debbarma (pictured left), who won the grand finale of the fourth season of the TV programme on Sunday (March 1) night.

Sourabhee, who hails from the India's north east, belted out popular numbers confidently and piped other finalists - Bengali girl Torsha Sarkar and army man Kapil Thapa. She walked away with a Rs.10 million contract with Sony TV and a car.

The result was based on public voting.

The special attractions of the event were Bollywood stars John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh, who had come to promote their forthcoming film "New York".

Others from the Indian film and music industry, including judges Javed Akhtar, Anu Malik, Kailash Kher and Sonali Bendre, too were present to cheer the finalists.

The 22-year-old winner is petite, charismatic and adds glamour to her stage performances with her perfect moves - a plus point she has had since the beginning of the show. However, the girl has had no professional training in music.

She recently met veteran Assamese composer Bhupen Hazarika who told her "my blessings are with you".

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Azharuddin’s Journey from the Slums to Oscars

Azharuddin Ismail Shaikh Usman, the Mumbai slum boy who has now become an international celebrity, may not have landed his plum role in "Slumdog Millionaire" and a good deal of money in the bank but for a happy coincidence, says his agent.

Zainul Abdeen Khan, his agent, says he had taken around 35 children in the required age group for an audition with the production crew of the movie, which has now bagged eight Oscars - a ceremony attended by 10-year-old Azharuddin.

"It was a long and tiring day almost 18 months ago, when the selections were being done. Finally, one boy was selected for the role and he was to be taken to the director's team for approval," Khan told IANS.

Just then, the selected boy developed a tummy upset and had to be rushed home to the nearby Garib Nagar slum by his father.

"However, by the time he returned after half an hour, the director's team had already selected Azharuddin. He was destined to create history," said Khan, himself a resident of the adjacent slum colony, Behrampada in Bandra east.

Khan is an agent who has been supplying children to various Bollywood and foreign movie crews in and around Mumbai for the past 10 years. He had been commissioned for the job by a woman, Alka, who was retained by the production team of "Slumdog Millionaire".

Initially, the children were to paid up to Rs.150 per day for the smallest role in the movie, according to Khan. The producers entered into a separate arrangement with Azharuddin and paid him a monthly retainership of Rs.5,000 for over a year for his work in the movie.

Later, Azharuddin was paid around Rs.175,000 which has been put aside in a bank account. The producers have also put aside another Rs.2.5 million which he will get when he turns 18, Khan claimed.

As the movie gained in popularity and earned critical acclaim worldwide, Azharuddin's family members told the producers they were homeless and were in need of a small house.

"The producers have agreed tentatively to provide a home to Azharuddin and his co-star Rubina Ali, also living in Garib Nagar slum. I showed them around some flats costing Rs.1.75 million, but the producers have kept a decision in abeyance. We are hopeful, now with so many honours to their credit, the producers will not disappoint these two children," Khan claimed.

Apart from 17 children from Garib Nagar, 10 children were selected from Dharavi - notorious as Asia's largest slum. A couple of girls was chosen from Jogeshwari, one from Malad, and five children from Nala Sopara suburb in Thane district for bit roles, Khan said.

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List of Winners 54th Idea Filmfare Awards 2008

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Hrithik Roshan - Jodhaa Akbar

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Priyanka Chopra - Fashion

BEST FILM
Jodhaa Akbar

BEST DIRECTOR
Ashutosh Gowariker - Jodhaa Akbar

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (MALE)
Arjun Rampal - Rock On!!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (FEMALE)
Kangana Ranaut - Fashion

BEST DEBUTANT (Male)
Imran Khan - Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na
Farhan Akhtar - Rock On!!

BEST DEBUTANT (Female)
Asin - Ghajini

BEST STORY
Abhishek Kapoor - Rock On!!

BEST SCREENPLAY
Yogesh Vinayak Joshi & Upendra Sidhaye - Mumbai Meri Jaan

BEST DIALOGUE
Manu Rishi - Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE
A. R. Rahman - JODHAA AKBAR

BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR
A. R. Rahman - Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na

BEST LYRICS
Javed Akhtar - Jodhaa Akbar - Jashn-e-Bahara

R. D. BURMAN AWARD
Benny Dayal - Yuvvraaj - Meri Dost Hain

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE)
Sukhwinder Singh - Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - Haule Haule

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE)
Shreya Ghoshal - Singh Is Kinng - Teri Ore

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE
Prateik Babbar - Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na
Purab Kohli - Rock On!!

BEST DIRECTOR (CRITIC)
Nishikant Kamat - Mumbai Meri Jaan

BEST ACTOR (CRITIC)
Manjot Singh - Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

BEST ACTRESS (CRITIC)
Shahana Goswami - Rock On

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - 1
Bhanu Athaiya

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - 2
Om Puri

SONY FILMFARE BEST SCENE OF THE YEAR
Aditya Chopra - Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - 'Flower on the Dining Table' scene

TECHNICAL AWARD

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Longines Fernandes - Pappu Can't Dance Saala (Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na)

BEST EDITING
Amit Pawar Mumbai Meri Jaan

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Vandan Kataria & Monica Angelica Bhowmick - Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

BEST ACTION
Peter Hein - Ghajini

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS AWARD
John Deitz - Love Story 2050

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE
A R Rahman - Jodhaa Akbar

BEST COSTUMES
Manushee Sharma - Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jason West - Rock On!!

BEST SOUND DESIGN
Baylon Fonseca & Vinod Subramanyam - Rock On!!

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