Countdown to the starry night…

MUMBAI, JANUARY 19: With only four days to go until the big event, it's time to ponder over who might take home those glittering statuette...

MUMBAI, JANUARY 19: With only four days to go until the big event, it’s time to ponder over who might take home those glittering statuettes at the Screen-Videocon Awards for excellence in film, television and music, to be held at the Andheri Sports Complex on Sunday, January 23.

Clearly, the front-runners for almost all the popular awards in the film section are Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, John Matthew Matthan’s Sarfarosh and Subhash Ghai’s Taal. All three filmmakers, incidentally, are also nominated in the Best Director category along with David Dhawan and Satish Kaushik, whose films: Biwi No 1 and Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain respectively have been nominated in the Best Film category too.

Ajay Devgan (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam), Aamir Khan (Sarfarosh), Sanjay Dutt (Vaastav), Manoj Bajpai (Shool) and Govinda (Haseena Maan Jayegi) will vie for the Best Actor trophy. The Best Actress nomination list, meanwhile, features at least two heroines who weren’t originally meant to play the partsthat they have earned so many accolades for. Aishwarya Rai, a hot favourite for her performance in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was the director’s third choice for the role, after both Madhuri Dixit and Kajol showed little interest in working with him.

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Even Karisma Kapoor who receives a nod for her role in Biwi No 1, came into the picture much after Manisha Koirala fell out with producer Vashu Bhagnani over money matters. Aishwarya and Karisma have competition from Tabu (Hu Tu Tu), Kajol (Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain) and Shabana Azmi (Godmother), who are also nominated in the same category.

Anil Kapoor, who gets a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his part in Taal, is yet another actor who came in late. The role, apparently, was originally meant for Govinda, who turned it down at the eleventh hour. Also featuring in the same category are Mukesh Rishi (Sarfarosh), Anupam Kher (Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain), Sanjay Narvekar (Vaastav) and Naseeruddin Shah (Bhopal Express). On the other hand, Kajol receivesher second nomination this time, for her supporting act in Dil Kya Kare, while Sushmita Sen (Biwi No 1), Suhasini Mulay (Hu Tu Tu), Antara Mali (Mast) and Smita Jaykar (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) give her company on the Best Supporting Actress list.

Interestingly, all five nominees for Best Comic Role are actors from David Dhawan films. There’s Anupam Kher, Satish Kaushik and Aroona Irani getting a nomination each for their performances in Haseena Maan Jayegi, while Tabu and Johnny Lever are voted for their turns in Biwi No 1.

In the music section, the competition between Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Taal heats up, what with Bhansali’s romance nominated for six awards, while Taal lands a record eight nods.

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There’s also an award for Best Technical Debut Director, the nominees for which are John Matthew Matthan, E Nivas (Shool), Mahesh Mathai (Bhopal Express), Sunny Deol (Dillagi) and Milan Luthria (Kache Dhaage).

With Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam nominated for as many as 19 awards in all, followed closely bySarfarosh and Taal, one wonders whether the awards function on Sunday will throw up any surprises.