Hum Dil De… sweeps Screen-Videocon awards

At a glittering ceremony held at the Andheri Sports Complex on Sunday, Sanjay Dutt walked home with the Best Actor trophy for his applaud-worthy performance as an underworld don in Vaastav. Soon after the ceremony, an ecstatic Dutt said he desired, before everything else, to show the statuette to his father on reaching home. To nobody’s surprise, doe-eyed Aishwarya Rai bagged the Best Actress Award for hersensitive turn in Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam at the hands of Madhuri Dixit and Manisha Koirala.

The Best Supporting Actor award was claimed by Anil Kapoor for his entertaining role in Subhash Ghai’s Taal. While on stage, the actor said he accepted this award for his supporting part "in the right spirit" and claimed that it inspired him "to come back next year for the Best Actor award." Sushmita Sen won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in Biwi No 1, but wasn’t around to receive it.

Anupam Kher earned himself the award for Best Performance in a Comic Role for his role in Haseena Maan Jayegi while Sayaji Shinde was declared the winner of the award for Best Performance in a Negative Role for his portrayal of a psychotic politician in Shool.

In the keenly contested music categories, A R Rahman was judged the winner of the Best Music Award for his foot-tapping tunes in Taal. Kavita Krishnamoorthy took home the award for Best Female Playback Singer for the title song of Hum Dil De ChukeSanam while her proud husband, the renowned violinist L Subramanium, cheered on in the audience. Sukhvinder Singh earned himself the award for Best Male Playback Singer for the Ramta Jogi number in Taal.

Debutante Nethra Raghuraman, nominated for both Bhopal Express and Takshak, received the Best Female Newcomer Award for her impressive work in Mahesh Mathai’s Bhopal Express, while Aftab Shivdasani walked upstage to collect his trophy for Best Male Newcomer for Ramgopal Varma’s musical, MastDuring the course of the four-hour ceremony, such talented Bollywood performers as Akshay Kumar, Urmila Matondkar and Aishwarya Rai enthralled the 9000-strong audience with spellbinding song-and-dance sequences from some of 1999’s best fare.

Pop stars Falguni Pathak and Raageshwari also presented their chart-topping numbers on-stage. Legendary songstress Lata Mangeshkar took the opportunity to pay tribute to her father Dinanath Mangeshkar on the occasion of his birth centenary.

In what can best be described as apoignant moment, thespian Dilip Kumar took the stage to honour music-director Naushad with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to film music. And as a grand finale to the eventful evening, a host of Hindi cinema’s top film families were invited to grace the floor. Among those dynasties that appeared in full form were the Mukherjees, the Nadiadwalas, the Banus, the Barjatyas, the Sippys, the Sagars, the Samarths, the Bhatts, the Jayants, the Shantarams, and the Gangulys.

Among those film luminaries who attended the event included Amitabh Bachchan, Dimple Kapadia, Amrish Puri, Rekha, Twinkle and Rinke Khanna, David Dhawan, Manoj Kumar, Sooraj Barjatya, Esha Deol, Smita Thackeray, Manoj Bajpai, Ramesh Taurani, Amol Palekar, Neelam, Ashutosh Rana, Shekhar Suman, Raj Babbar, Sachin, and Renuka Shahane.