Ranveer Singh gets an award from Sharon Stone: Hollywood, Bollywood, and Arabic cinema collide at Red Sea International Film Festival

Hollywood actress Sharon Stone labelling flamboyant Bollywood star Ranveer Singh as “a great guy” and “a master of transformation” as she bestowed an honoree award for his body of work at the opening night of the Red Sea International Film Festival was one of the epic moments during the star-studded night on Thursday evening. But the evening was littered with such golden moments. Did we tell you that Will Smith was in a goofy mood as he called the night “spectabulolus” – a word he coined to denote spectacular and fabulous. Here’s what went down at the opening night. Gulf News was on the grounds covering all the action and the spectacle.

This year’s edition of RSIFF saw an opening night that was filled with who’s who of global cinema. Celebrities from around the globe including Hollywood A-listers Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Diane Kruger, Turkish superstar Burak Ozcivit, Frieda Pinto, Michelle Williams walked the red carpet and mingled with the press gathered from around the world to cover the ten-day film festival.

Oscar-winning actor Will Smith even came up with the word “spectabulous”, a combination of spectacular and fabulous, on the red carpet. His words? “It’s exciting and a beautiful night. The Saudi hospitality is ‘spectabulous’ … This is my second time here and I was here in Jeddah and Alula seven months ago. I love the energy where the ancient and the brand new mingle so seamlessly.” He was also spotted saying a Namaste to the press from India

And when it came to effortless style, the award should be given to Hollywood star Johnny Depp. The ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean Star’ iconic Captain Jack Sparrow, sporting sun glasses at night, was a masterclass in swag. Also did we tell you that it was endearing to watch Sharon Stone pronounce the names of Hindi films that featured Ranveer Singh as she gave him the honoree award.

Modern Family star and Colombian actress Sofia Vergara may look like she stays away from carbohydrates, but she had our hearts when she revealed that she loves Saudi for the incredible food. “I love coming to Saudi, mainly for the food, and it makes up for the horrible, horrible jetlag from LA. But it’s not just for the food, it’s for the people here who remind me of my own family back home. Everyone knows everyone … And I love my film family here too … I love the cinema souq here where ideas and cultures are exchanged,” she said. Dressed in a black strapless figure-hugging gown with glittering bustline, Vergara sparkled more than her gown.

Ranveer Singh’s acceptance speech as he received the honoree award at RSIF from Sharon Stone was filled with mutual admiration “I wasn’t expecting to be receiving the award in your presence and to be on the same stage as you … Your kind and generous words about me will be etched in my memory forever. I have been watching you as a performer as a child and I will cherish this award forever,” said Singh. But our favourite part was when Singh gave a huge shout out to Johnny Depp for inspiring him to be an actor and learning so much about the craft. Depp acknowledged it with his trademark wink and smile, that could be a smirk. Another highlight was to witness Singh expressing his embarrassment over the audio-visual presentation about his body of work that was shown before he came up on stage to receive the award. It was colourful and showed montages of him singing often shirtless with his gorgeous co-stars. “I promise you filmmakers that I have got more depth and gravitas than what was shown in that AV,” said Singh pointing to the screen behind him.

Hollywood actress Diane Kruger, who also honoured for her body of work like Ranveer Singh, was relatively more somber as she accepted the award. She hoped that this award would inspire girls to dream and tell their own stories.

The red carpet was also filled with stars from around the globe who put their best fashion foot forward. More than 130 movies from around the world will be screened at the on-going RSIFF, which concludes on December 10. Above: Egyptian actress Yasmine Sabri.