Indo-Pakistan love story triumphs at Bollywood 'Oscars'

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 | Source: AFP

A Romeo and Juliet romance between an Indian pilot and his Pakistani sweetheart triumphed on Sunday at the Bollywood Oscars awards ceremony held in Amsterdam.

Veer Zaara, which won the best film prize and earned Yash Chopra a best director's award, is a a timely tale of cross- cultural love as India and Pakistan engage in a little relationship-warming themselves.

All the Bollywood glitterati descended on Amsterdam late on June 11 for the annual awards ceremony of the Indian cinema industry's "Oscars" which was beamed across the globe to an estimated 400 million television viewers.

Since 2000, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) has staged the extravaganza abroad to raise the international profile of its home-grown "made in Bombay" movie industry. India is the world's biggest film producer at around 1,000 features a year, even if the budgets are no match for Hollywood.

Veer Zaara -- taking the two names of the film's young lovers -- took six awards in all, with leading man Shahrukh Khan scooping the best actor award and Rani Mukherji picking up the supporting actress prize.

Khan's win was no surprise as the Bollywood superstar, India's answer to Tom Cruise, was nominated for best actor for his roles in three of the most fancied films.

Veer Zaara also won in the best music direction and best story categories.

However, the best actress award went to Rani Mukherji for her performance in another love story, Hum Tum (You and Me).

Former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and veteran Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, Indian cinema's "star of stars", were among those taking part in the awards ceremony.

Despite the unusually cold June night, saris and cleavages were on display in a crowd of some 10,000 people in Amsterdam's football stadium. -- AFP

View JSON | Print