Dabangg sweeps Apsara Awards

Salman Khan's blockbuster entertainer Dabangg made its presence felt at the Chevrolet Apsara Awards on Tuesday night by bagging eight awards in different categories.

The film, produced by Arbaaz Khan and directed by Abhinav Kashyap, won trophies for categories including best film, best actor (Salman Khan), 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 glitzy night witnessed power-packed performances by Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Govinda and Anushka Sharma and was attended by many Bollywood celebrities: Dharmendra, Rani Mukerji, Sunny Deol, Karan Johar, Aishwarya Rai, Katrina Kaif, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal and Yash Chopra among many others.

The film that followed Dabangg in the awards' tally was Band Baaja Baaraat with six awards.

The evening also announced special awards. A new category called the President honour for outstanding achievement in cinema was conferred on Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan for their performance in Guzaarish and Sanjay Leela Bhansali for directing the film.