Plush - Party like a Bollywood star

related stories

Nobody parties quite like the Bollywood contingent...and party they did yet again at the International Indian Film Academy awards (Iifa), one of Hindi cinema’s biggest annual travelling awards shows where over 600 members of the industry led by elder statesman and Iifa’s brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan showed up to fete and feast.

The Wizcraft team, which has staged the awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Middle-East and Thailand, managed to find a space that held all the giant egos under one roof – The Venetian-Macao-Resort-Hotel in Macau.

It was a weekend chock-a-block with activites from movie launches, business forums, three green carpet events – the Iifa’s nod to environmental awareness – a fashion extravaganza and the awards show.

tabla! was there and we were inspired to give out our own awards.

Oye Lucky Oye Award

This has to go to the entire Bollywood crew. When you have one of the biggest casinos in Asia, how can the Mumbai glitterati say no to trying their luck?

When they weren’t promoting their movies or rehearsing for the awards show, they hit the tables at The Venetian.

Spotted placing bets at the roulette and blackjack tables were actor Zayed Khan, director David Dhawan, Govinda and his wife Sunita. Ashutosh Gowarikar and wife were seen clutching a hotel-provided map of the resort trying to find their way around the tables.

Anil Kapoor showed up with his entourage at the roulette tables after the awards show last Saturday night but didn’t look too miffed that he lost, as he made his way to another table to try his luck again.

Neil Nitin Mukesh and cricketer S. Sreesanth hit the roulette tables after the fashion extravaganza but Neil’s luck didn’t hold out while Sreesanth reportedly made HK$3,000 ($564).

Sushmita Sen, all glamorous in black, was accompanied by her make-up artist and a bodyguard. But that didn’t prevent her from losing a stack at the tables.

As Zayed said during the awards ceremony, the Venetian’s huge suites could only get bigger next year “considering how much money Bollywood lost at the casino”.

Get A Room Award

For all the couplings that took place under The Venetian’s gold-leaf roof. When you have this many of B-town’s denizens in one place, naturally some of them are going to hook up.

Starlet Minisha Lamba was seen canoodling with Sreesanth at the casino bar after the celebrity fashion extravaganza on Day 2.

They sang a little – actually, a tipsy Minisha sang a little and cuddled a lot – but since very few Bollywood fans were up at that hour (it was around 5am!) it was only the gamblers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China who witnessed the spectacle.

They later left the casino with their arms around each other. Which would probably account for Minisha’s skittishness on the green carpet on awards day as she bolted past the press block and refused to take any questions.

Also spotted cosying up to a Bollywood starlet was Australian singer Peter Andre. Recently separated from his wife, model Katie Price popularly known as Jordan,

Andre seemed very taken with Sophie Chaudhary, the UK-bred former MTV veejay, when they were introduced on the first day of the Iifa weekend.

He told her: “I wasn’t expecting an English accent coming out of you.” While his pick-up lines need some work, it didn’t matter because the two of them seemed joined at the hip later at the post-party following the Cirque du Soleil’s Zaia performance.

My Security-Is-Bigger-Than-Yours award

Hands down, the Bachchans win this award without even trying. Bollywood’s “royal” family got the biggest security detail during the Iifa weekend and couldn’t go anywhere without a phalanx of bodyguards around them.

Amitabh had his usual burly London-based bodyguards Yousaff and Ali Khan along with The Venetian security personnel while Abhishek and Aishwarya had five to six bodyguards provided by The Venetian and television star Ronit Roy’s security company.

Most of the other stars had one bodyguard, like Lara Dutta when she went shopping around the resort. And if they were less popular, like Minisha, they were on their own.

The Open-Mouth-Insert-Foot award

Goes to Ashutosh Gowarikar for firmly placing both feet in his mouth when he went on stage to receive the Best Film award for Jodhaa Akbar – one of 11 awards the film picked up at the Iifa weekend – and asked why Priyanka Chopra won the Best Actress for Fashion.

He said: “Priyanka, I love you, but I don’t know how you got the award for Best Actress when Aishwarya was also nominated in the same category for Jodhaa Akbar.”

Priyanka, who made a very last minute showing at the awards and looked stunning in a red-and-silver Manish Malhotra sari, was shocked but managed to keep her composure.

Sentimental award of the year

Not even Abhishek Bachchan’s choked-up tribute to his dad after winning Best Comic Performance could beat Rajesh Khanna’s emotional and very sentimental thank you speech which even overshadowed his eclectic fashion choice of the night – an orange kurta pyjama – when he received the Iifa Lifetime Achievement award from Amitabh Bachchan.

Bollywood’s first superstar was clearly enthralled to be on stage again with his Anand co-star. He even recited his most memorable lines from the film, to the delight of the 10,000 plus-strong crowd which gave him a standing ovation.

He said: “I have got this award after 180 films and a 40-year-long journey in the film industry and I am obliged to everyone specially my fans and babu moshai (Amitabh).

“Life should be big, not necessarily long, and my babu moshai is living life big, living life king size. We started with Anand and today we are on this platform. He is very dear to me, he is my babu moshai.”

The winners

Best Debutant Star (Male)
Farhan Akhtar

Best Debutant Star (Female)
Asin

Best Music
A.R. Rahman – Jodhaa Akbar

Best Lyrics
Javed Akhtar – Jashn-E-Bahara (Jodhaa Akbar)

Best Story
Neeraj Pandey – A Wednesday

Performance in a Comic Role
Abhishek Bachchan – Dostana

Performance in a Supporting Role (Female)
Kangana Ranaut – Fashion

Performance in a Supporting Role (Male)
Arjun Rampal – Rock On

Direction
Ashutosh Gowariker – Jodhaa Akbar

Performance in a Leading Role (Female)
Priyanka Chopra – Fashion

Performance in a Leading Role (Male)
Hrithik Roshan – Jodhaa Akbar