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Unplugging
the arena of stars
Having attended the Zee Cine Awards, live at the Genting Highlands
in Malaysia, Frieha Altaf returns with insight on the dos and
don'ts of conducting a Bollywood-style awards /show in preparation
for the forthcoming Lux Style Awards.
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The
entertainment world belongs to Bollywood. When Time magazine featured
Shahrukh Khan on its cover a year ago and claimed that Shahrukh had
more visibility than any other film star in the world surpassing the
likes of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, they could not have been more correct
– a phenomenon that was fairly apparent at the Zee Cine Awards
held recently in Genting Highlands, Malaysia.
That evening over six thousand people – celebrities, expatriate
Asians and Malay locals who have had enough exposure to Bollywood
to fall in love with it - packed the Arena of the stars at Genting
to see their favourite Bollywood stars. |
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done the premier Lux Style Awards show (now successfully in it sixth
year) in Pakistan myself, it made sense for me to venture into a Bollywood
show in order to gather learning's on my own event. Isaac, my technical
director, and I arrived at the airport to board our Malaysian airlines
flight. As soon as I boarded the plane I realized the immense power
of Bollywood. The plane was en route from Dubai and the business class
was chock full of Indians and Arabs excitedly going to the show. Earlier,
on my weekend trip when I had gone to see Shakira in Dubai, I had
seen posters and ads for the Zee Cine Awards enticing visitors to
come watch the show and spend time in Malaysia. On arrival in Kuala
Lumpur, the film enthusiasts were whisked away by efficient members
of Zee staff, all wearing Zee t-shirts, to the immigration lines.
It was branding at its best. |
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| While collecting
my baggage I couldn't help but openly stare at Vinod Khanna and his
family. Older, and here to collect a Lifetime Achievement Award, Vinod
looked nothing like the hero he once was. A slight pandemonium forced
me to shift my attention to a buffed up Salman Khan and a beautiful
Katrina Kaif donned in sunglasses and Lycra capris. Incidentally,
she did give me the girl-to-girl check out and all I could think was,
"Man she's fat!" To call her voluptuous would be an understatement. |
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The
drive up to Genting was painless and beautiful and then it was off
to bed for a quick nap so we would be ready for the glitzy and glamorous
evening ahead of us. At five thirty, Isaac and I descended down to
hotel lobby with me in my TRC grey gown and Sheherzad Hashwani Diamonds
all set for the event. The red carpet was narrow and ran through the
entrance of the theme park in Genting. Barriers on either side of
the carpet were lined with fans who held their breaths for a glimpse
of their favorite star. Every Mercedes that drove in brought a flurry
of excitement, as the fans all waited for the one big star of the
evening, Shahrukh. Never really having been too star-struck. I took
off to check the show inside.
We entered to find a huge arena with plastic bucket seats, typical
of a concert hall, in bubble gum colors. So much for the 36,000 rupees
that promised to put me close to the stars. In fact, the 36,000 did
not even buy you a bottle of water or hors d'oeuvres. By the end of
the evening we were so hungry I had to make do with a hot dog on a
stick and all I could think of was how unsophisticated I must have
looked in my ball gown, diamonds and Dior make up, eating a hot dog
on a stick amidst Bollywood stars. Real attractive! The Malaysian
women were dressed up according to the event, some tastefully while
others were casual in jeans; however I never felt over dressed for
a second because red carpet events are meant to let loose the dressier
side of you!
The stage was set in a typical Bollywood manner, with lots of colors
and patterns. The champion of the stage was a Chinese dragon from
which all the stars entered. The show kicked off with an ambulance
bringing in the first host, Saif Ali Khan, escorted by two nurses.
He proceeded to inform the audience of his newly acquired single status.
Saif introduced the first act of Malaysian dancers followed by Katrina
Kaif. Surprisingly, Katrina not being such a superb actress or dancer,
still managed to wow the audience by stepping down from the stage
and dragging a smiling Salman Khan from the audience to dance with
her.
The awards were all viewers' choice and everyone seemed to know they
were going to win, so the element of surprise was gone. Karan Johar
was in his element and was by far the best host (the others were Saif,
Urmila and Shilpa Shetty.) The seven acts included Priety Zinta dancing
to 'Where's the Party Tonight' and Priyanka Chopra descending down
from the sky to perform a Don song, which she was brilliant at.
This was followed by Aishwarya doing a number from Dhoom 2 ('Crazy
Kiya Re'), while the sixth act was performed by lesser actresses,
namely ten, who did a medley of songs from the past years to commemorate
the Zee Cine Awards' tenth anniversary. Parodies of five of the years'
best films were performed by Ritesh Deshmukh. The surprise winners
of the evening were Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Rang De Basanti, both
of which did not expect to win over Omkara, Krrish and Khabhi Alvida
Naa Kehna.
The best speeches came from Rajoo (Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's nickname),
the director of Rang De Basanti who dedicated his award to all the
Indian pilots who had lost their lives in MIG crashes. He also went
on to say that it took him five years to get this script out; his
greatest joy was when Amir Khan called him and told him he loved it
and would act in it.
At the same time, the worst speech came from Alka Yagnik, who won
Best Vocals for her rather sweet melody 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' when
she decided to trash the award-winning 'Beedi' on stage. It really
went down as a case of sour grapes as 'Beedi' had won most awards
this year. Shan won for 'Chand Sifarish' from the movie Fanaa after
which both he and Alka sang a few verses from the song live.
Although some presenters like Chunky Pandey did manage to get a few
words in about his Bengali background and how well the team was doing
in the World Cup (yes, there were a lot of jokes on the performance
of the cricket team), what I disliked about the event was that the
presenters were not allowed to speak. Perhaps the producer wanted
to control airtime on the already-two hour delayed TV show but I would
have loved to hear the prolific Shabana Azmi speak a few words.
Highlights of the show were Abhishek Bachchan doing 'Rock n Roll Sohniye'
from KANK. He then proceeded into the audience to pull Aishwarya onto
the stage and do the Katrina/Salman number all over again. Apparently,
this was the only time in the show that this incident was supposed
to happen; Salman Khan and Katrina, having seen the rehearsals, decided
to steal the thunder from the newly engaged and very-much-in-the-limelight
couple. Salman, as usual, behaved badly on stage; he was intoxicated
(according the Malaysian Tourism) and demanded body guards, among
other things. He also decided to announce the Best Film before Best
Actress and Best Actor awards. If looks could kill, Karan Johar would
have managed to kill Salman with his murderous look at this blunder.
Since the Zee Cine Awards is one of the last award shows (coming after
the Stardust Awards, Filmfare Awards, etc) all the favorite acts have
already been done ad nauseam so these diva acts only enhance the excitement
on these events.
There can be no Bollywood show without a finale and there cannot be
a grand finale without Shahrukh Khan. Two huge towers, a replica of
the Petronas Towers, were erected to bring in the star. The dazzling
performance was by far unmatched and brought down the house as a truly
GRAND finale.
After the show we headed to the after-party, which was like a wedding
with round tables, cocktails, too much lighting, but nevertheless
a good DJ from Bombay. Now, no big Bollywood star goes to the after-party
so the only noteworthy individuals persons there were Pooja Bedi,
Bappi Lehri, Vasundra Das of Monsoon Wedding fame and Vinod Khanna
surrounded by body guards and parked in the gazebo with none other
than the owner of Kingfisher breweries and airline, Vijay Mallaya.
After chatting with Rajoo, my hero for the evening, I decided I had
seen enough of the dos and don'ts when it came to award shows, and
decided to call it a night. Memories of the show, in the form of learnings
that I had come from, would be going back home with me! |
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