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Fans prepare for 2nd Bollywood Awards

Aseem Chhabra

The Golden Globes awards were given out last month and the Oscar nominations will be announced next week. Now there is something for the desi movie fans in North America.

On May 27, the second Bollywood Awards are going to be presented at Long Island's Nassau Coliseum. Similar to the People's Choice Awards, this year's event (co-sponsored by Zee Gold, the desi cable television channel, it lets non-resident south Asians vote for their favorite Bollywood film stars and other performers for the year 1999.

"NRIs are a large source of revenue for the Indian film industry," Kamal Dandona, chairman of the awards event recently said. "In the past year, certain films have reached unprecedented heights abroad, though they have not fared well in India.

"Indian film-makers no longer make films with only the Indian masses in mind; they also strongly consider the NRI mind frame," he added. "Thus NRIs should vote for their choice and let their voices be heard."

The official web site for the May 27 show -- www.bollywood.com -- has a ballot form with 24 categories, including best film, director, lead and supporting actors, comedian, villain, singers, music director and choreographers.

Voters can also pick their favorite stars in the most sensational performance, best debut and critics awards categories. In addition, the ballot includes an alphabetic list of 112 Hindi films (from Aa Ab Laut Chalen to Zulmi) that were released in 1999 and are eligible for the awards.

Ballots can be submitted on-line and the closing date for the entries is February 28.

According to Dandona, the law firm of a prominent attorney, Rajan Pillai, will tabulate the votes. Eventually, three nominees will be announced in each category.

Dandona said the forms will be also be distributed through Namaste.com, an on-line retailer of south Asian products, and through select ethnic newspapers and magazines.

The organizers of the show have not yet announced the names of the stars who will attend and perform at the May 27 event. That is to be announced after the nominees have been announced later in spring.

For 1999, among the most successful Bollywood films in North America were Subhash Ghai's Taal, Sooraj R Barjatya's Hum Saath Saath Hain and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. One of these films could sweep the awards and, if that happens, the stars of that film might be invited to the event.

In any event, if the 1999 Bollywood Awards line-up is any indication, the year 2000 show should be a grand event.

Besides the reigning monarch of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan (whose 1998 hit film, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai swept the awards last year), the other stars and personalities at the 1999 show were Juhi Chawla, Anupam Kher, Shilpa Shetty, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Runa Laila, Yash Chopra, Karan and Yash Johar, Manish Malhotra, Shekhar Kapur and Ismail Merchant.

There were also two surprise guests, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Michael Jackson, who was dressed in Indian attire designed by Malhotra. Jackson did not perform at the show, although he did go up to the stage to accept a humanitarian award.

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