The very prestigious 11th Rajiv Gandhi Awards was held amidst much glamour and glittering. The Rajiv Gandhi Awards has a fool-proof jury which is put in place six months in advance which then selects the nominees from diverse fields ranging from education to media to child prodigy to women achiever to young & global entrepreneur to entertainment & sports

This time noted social worker Anna Hazare, child actor Darsheel Safary and international Bhangra artist Malkit Singh, were among those who received the annual Rajiv Gandhi Awards. Kareena Kapoor and Salamn Khan set the stage afire with their dance performances at the show. Also present were Saif Ali Khan, Lara Dutta, Geeta Basra and Rakhi Sawant.

The gorgeous Deepika Padukone will be leading the 28th Indian Day Parade as Grand Marshal on August 17 to celebrate India’s 61st Independence Day.

This year, Madison Avenue in Manhattan has been chosen as the venue, by Federation of Indian Associations (FIA). this year. Also, present at the occasion will be former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The parade, biggest celebration of India’s independence outside India, attracts around 50,000 people.

Last year, it was Priyanka Chopra, who had the honor of leading the parade while Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams was the Guest of Honor.

Well, we wonder how many present at the occasion are for patriotic reasons and how many to see the beautiful Bollywood beauties sashay down for the parade!

Last Sunday, the closing day of IIFA Awards 2008 extravaganza in the Thai capital Bangkok, was the most awaited one as it was the one to unveil the winners of IIFA awards. This year the award winners’ list is as follows:

Best Film

Chak De India

Best Director
Shimit Amin for ‘Chak De India’

Best Actor

Shahrukh Khan for ‘Chak De India’

Best Actress
Kareena Kapoor for `Jab We Met`.

Best Debutant Male and Female
Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone

Best Style Icon (Male)
Abhishek Bachchan

Best Style Icon (Female)

Katrina Kaif

Best Performance in a Negative Role

Viveik Oberoi for ‘Shootout At Lokhandwala’.

Best Screenplay

Anurag Basu for `Life in a Metro` and Jaideep Sahni for `Chak De! India’

Best Cinematography 
Chak De! India

Best Dialogues
Imtiaz Ali for ’Jab We Met’.

Music Direction
AR Rahman for ‘Barso Re’ in Mani Ratnam’s `Guru`.

Best Lyrics

Javed Akhtar for ‘Main Agar Kahoon’ from ‘Om Shanti Om’

Playback Singer (Male)
Shaan for ‘Jabse Tere Naina’ in the movie ‘Saawariya’.

Playback Singer (Female)
Shreya Ghoshal for ‘Barso Re’ in Guru.

Best Performance in a Comic Role 
Govinda for ‘Partner’

Last weekend was very special for Bangkok, the capital of Thailand as all the best of Bollywood landed at Thai capital to celebrate IIFA 2008 awards. Some of them tried their austere with the ramp, stars like, Deepika, Ranbir, Kareena, Akshay, Zayed Khan and Fardeen Khan walked the ramp into an event of IIFA fashion show. Watch the unusual picks of your favorite stars in their best moods in IIFA Bangkok.

Following is the list of winners in respective categories:

BEST ACTOR - Shahrukh Khan - ‘Chak De India’

BEST ACTRESS - Kareena Kapoor - ‘Jab We Met’

BEST FILM - ‘Chak De India’

BEST ACTOR IN A NEGATIVE ROLE - Vivek Oberoi - ‘Shootout at Lokandwala’

BET PERFORMANCE IN COMIC ROLE - Govinda - ‘Partner’

BEST MUSIC - A.R. Rahman - ‘Guru’

Pretty Hot Diya Mirza

Akshay kumar & Twinkle khanna

Abhishek bachchan

Ayesha Takia

Ayesha Takia at fashion show

Bachchan Family

Deepika Padukone

Zayed khan at fashion show

Deepika padukone & Ranbir kapoor

Kareena kappor in fashion show

Kareena Kapoor

Saif ali khan

Shreya saran

Madhuri Dixit, who had reigned as the queen of Bollywood for a pretty long period, has been chosen for the prestigious Padma Shri Award for her contribution to the Indian Cinema which will be given to her on May 10. Madhuri, whose birthday is just a few days ahead, could not get a better reason for a grand celebration. She will be coming down from Florida for the award ceremony along with her husband Dr. Nene.

Madhuri was last seen in her comeback ‘Aaja Nachle’ which failed to create stirs on the box-office. Nonetheless, her fan following has not gone down by an inch. So, do we see M.F.Hussain celebrating already?

As always, Zee Cine Awards was held at London this Sunday amidst much glamour and glitter. What made news was the absence of Salman Khan’s performance. Though the reason for Salman’s backing out was officially cited as high fever and injury, the real reason was that Salman had a problem with his choreographer Ganesh Hegde. So, the Moranis replaced Ganesh with a choreographer called Rajesh. When Salman saw Rajesh’s choreographed act on Friday afternoon, he was shocked and deeply upset at this second hand treatment. He returned the cheque and agreement the same night and then finally Zee had to perform with Shah Rukh, Upen Patel, Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena, and Jay Sean. Salman’s girlfriend Katrina who was already in London on Thursday performed solo.

Meanwhile, check out the list of the winners of Zee Cine Awards 2008:

Best Film
Chak De! India - Aditya Chopra, Yash Raj Films

Best Director
Aamir Khan - Taare Zameen Par

Best Actor (Male)
Shah Rukh Khan - Chak De! India

Best Actor (Female)
Kareena Kapoor - Jab We Met

Most Popular Track Of The Year
Mauja Hi Mauja - Jab We Met

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male)
Govinda - Partner

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)
Shilpa Shetty - Life In A.. Metro

Best Actor In A Comic Role (Male/Female)
Vinay Pathak - Bheja Fry

Best Actor In A Negative Role (Male/Female)
Arjun Rampal - Om Shanti Om

Best Playback Singer (Male)
Shaan - Jab Se Tere Naina (Saawariya)

Best Playback Singer (Female)
Shreya Ghosal - Barso Re Megha (Guru)

Best Lyrics
Prasoon Joshi - Maa (Taare Zameen Par)

Best Music
A R Rahman - Guru

Most Promising Debut Director
Aamir Khan - Taare Zameen Par

Most Promising Debut (Male)
Ranbir Kapoor - Saawariya

Most Promising Debut (Female)
Deepika Padukone - Om Shanti Om

Most Promising Debut (Child Artiste)
Darsheel Safary - Taare Zameen Par

Technical Awards
Best Choreographer - Farah Khan - Om Shanti Om
Best Costume – Manish Malhotra & Karan Johar - Om Shanti Om
Best Visual Effects - Red Chilli’s Entertainment - Om Shanti Om
Best Editing – Amitabh Shukla - Chak de India
Best Cinematography - Sandip Chaterjee- Chak de India
Best Action - Parvez Khan - Jhonny Gaddar
Best Film Processing - ADLABS - Namastey London
Best Art Direction - Nitin Desai - Gandhi my Father
Best Sound recording – Baylon Ponseca - Shootout at lokhandwala
Best Background Music - AR Rahman - Guru
Best Screenplay - Imtiyaz Ali - Jab We Met
Best Dialogue - Jaideep Sahani - Chak De India
Best Story - Amol Gupte - Taare Zammen Par
Zee Icon award – Shah Rukh Khan
Zee Cinema Entertainer of the year – Ritesh Deshmukh
Lifetime Achievement – Zeenat Amaan
Lifetime Achievement – Feroz Khan
British Indian Actor Award – Katrina Kaif
Bollywod Queen Award - Gauri Khan

Critics Awards
Best Film – Gandhi My Father
Best Actress – Shifali Shah – Gandhi my Father
Best Actor – Darsheel Safary – Taare Zameen Par
Critics Special Awards - Neil Nitin Mukesh

As always, the evening of the Pantaloons Femina Miss India was full of glamour, entertainment and anxiety with Bollywood stars stealing all the limelight from the beautiful 28 contestants.

Right from the hosts, south superstar Madhavan along with the very gorgeous Diya Mirza sporting stunning outfits designed by Ritu Kumar and Shaina NC to the panel of judges that comprised of actors like Tabu, Zeenat Aman, and Katrina Kaif, they were everywhere.

Equally dazzling were the performances from the Bollywood beauties. Sameera Reddy clad in a stunning red jump suit, performed on Jeenat Aman’s dancer numbers from 70s. Bong siren Bips set everybody’s heart racing with her eternal ‘Bidi’ number and newly dawned Bollywood diva Kareena Kapoor set the stage afire clad in her trademark black ‘Mauja’ dress.

20 year old Parvathy Omanakuttan from Kerala was honoured with the ‘Femina Miss India World 2008’ crown, Harshita Saxena was crowned as ‘Pantaloons Femina Miss Earth 2008’ and Simran Kaur Mundi became the ‘Femina Miss India Universe 2008’.

In this world of competition, where marketing makes all the difference, Yash Raj camps has a unique way to hold it’s own. Yes, talking about the year ‘March-ing’ ahead, Yash Raj Films has unveiled its calendar exhibiting some hottest Bollywood celebs in most imaginative poses. The calendar showcases stars like Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Rani Mukherji, Bipasha Basu, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor who are all going to hit the screens in the coming days with some of the most awaited Yash Raj Films like ‘Tashan’, ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, Kunal Kohli’s next, ‘Roadside Romeo’ and Aditya Chopra’s ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ this year. Where the first part of the calendar was mostly focused on the stars from ‘Tashan’, the second part emcompasses much wider range. Have a look at the smouldering pics from the YRF calendar Part II.

One can easily imagine the glow on pretty Aishwarya Rai’s face when her father was given a Life Time Achievement award for serving in the maritime industry. The event was Sailor Today Awards and to complete the event was pre recorded videos of the entire Rai family talking about their relationship with Krishnaraj Rai who is a marine engineer.

To add to the glamour was sizzling performance by Kim Sharma, Pooja Bedi & Aditi Gowitrikar. Aditi, Shawar Ali, Freddy walked the ramp in Sailor outfits. Also present were Rakesh Paul and Sunaina Paul, Delnaaz Paul and Rajeev Paul, Aditya Hatkari and Divya.

This Thursday night, the 13th of March, saw the 10th MAMI International Film Festival’s awards ceremony. The Spanish Director Carlos Saura was felicitated with the Global Lifetime Achievement Award. Chief Guest of the event Dev Anand, veteran Actor-Director, presented the Lifetime Achievement award to Dharmendra.

The other awardees at the Festival were Rishi Kapoor for Significant Contribution to Cinema over 25 years, Gulzar for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Film Music as Lyricist and the Kodak Award for Technical Excellence to Hitendra Ghosh.

In order to nurture talent and provide a platform to new generation of filmmakers on its 10th edition, Jaya Bachchan, one of the trustees of MAMI, introduced a new initiative called ‘Dimensions Mumbai’.

On the Closing Gala Night, which was honoured by the esteemed presence of film directors from Mexico, France and European countries along with Shyam Benegal, Chairman of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) and other Trustees of MAMI, the Japanese film The Mourning Forest was screened, a film that won the Grand Prix at the 60th edition of Cannes Film Festival in 2007.

Once again absence of Aamir Khan in 53rd film fare award despite his movie ‘Taare Zameen Par’ swept the Best director and Best Picture Award. He in an interview to timesonline told a year back, “Indian film awards lack credibility, that’s why I do not attend them,” when his movie Rang De Basanti was nominated in the Best Foreign Film Category in London at Baftas.

The charges made by Aamir Khan as far as appears to be true as Bollywood has as many as six film award functions promoted by gossip magazines and the winners happens to be the best friends of organizers and events charged to be been as rigged ones.

But there is running some deep undercurrent as co- hoste Shah Rukh Khan’s two nominated movies Chak De! India and Om Shanti Om did not receive the awards and it seems that Filmfare is mending bridges as Aamir don’t like the current editor of the magazine.