GIFA, the hits and misses

The Global Indian Film Awards in Dubai pleased some Bollywood fans but not all

Dubai has proved the United Arab Emirates can play a role in promoting Hindi cinema by hosting the first Global Indian Film Awards. Gifa, a Dubai Shopping Festival event, was held over three days last week.

The awards have been conceived to bring Indian cinema closer to the Asian and Arab communities in the Middle East, Sameer Khan, vice-president, Global Events, and GIFA spokesperson, told reporters before the event.

The awards were based on polls held exclusively in Middle East. Although the ceremony fell far short of its 17,000-odd target audience because of expensive tickets, it did generate interest among Bollywood fans.

GIFA began with the premiere of Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav at the Grand Cineplex.

Several of the film’s stars were present - Suniel Shetty, Anupama Verma, Masumeh etc - but director Mahesh Manjrekar was not. Good for him, because he would have had a tough time explaining why he made such a weird film.

The next important event in the GIFA calendar was the charity dinner for tsunami survivors at Nad Al Sheba Club. Unfortunately, very few stars were present.

Apart from Suniel Shetty, whose Popcorn Entertainment scripted, choreographed and directed the awards night show, there were Arjun Rampal, Feroz Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Shahid and Kareena Kapoor, Ashish Chowdhary and Riya Sen.

Also Sangeeta Bijlani, Mohammad Azharuddin and Dhanraj Pillai.

Shakti Kapoor encouraged guests to bid higher and higher. An outfit Shahrukh Khan wore for Main Hoon Na was sold for Dh30,0000.

Red saris worn by Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor in Aitraaz sold for Dh20,000 each. A total of Dh225,000 was raised.

Salman Khan did not bother to turn up for the dinner although he was shooting for a film in Dubai with girlfriend Katrina Kaif.

But he did play the GIFA football match with his brothers Sohail and Arbaaz, and model-turned-actors John Abraham and Rahul Dev.

Finally, there was the awards night at Al Wasl Stadium. Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Lara Dutta and Shahid Kapur performed.

I can’t comment on much of that because although we, members of the media, had travelled all the way from India, most of us didn’t watch it because of difference of opinion with the organisers over seating.

Anyway, here are the winners:
Best film: Main Hoon Na
Best director: Farah Khan for Main Hoon Na
Best actor: Shahrukh Khan for Main Hoon Na
Best actress: Rani Mukherjee for Hum Tum
Best actor in a comic role: Arshad Warsi for Hulchul
Best actor in a negative role (male): Suniel Shetty for Main Hoon Na
Best actor in a negative role (female): Priyanka Chopra for Aitraaz
Best newcomer: Gayatri Joshi for Swades
Best supporting actor (male): Akshay Kumar for Mujhse Shaadi Karogi
Best supporting actor (female): Divya Dutta for Veer-Zaara
Best art direction: Sabu Cyril for Main Hoon Na
Best editing: Rameshwar Bhagat for Dhoom
Best costume designing: Vikram Phadnis for Mujhse Shaadi Karogi
Best choreography: Prabhu Deva for Lakshya
Best cinematography: Christopher Popp for Lakshya
Best action: Allen Ameen for Main Hoon Na
Best story: Aditya Chopra for Veer-Zaara
Best music: Anu Malik for Main Hoon Na
Best screenplay: Abbas Tyrewala and Vishal Bharadwaj for Maqbool