And my award goes to....

Like every year, I present my nominations and winners for the year that was...I dont really care about any of the other awards, but this year I really really hope that Salman Khan gets at least one Best Actor award for his daredevil act in Dabangg...If he ever had a sure-shot chance of winning, it is this year!


Best Film 
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha
Raajneeti
Udaan
Peepli Live
Dabangg
Tere Bin Laden

Best Director
Prakash Jha - Raajneeti
Dibakar Banerjee - Love, Sex aur Dhokha
Anusha Rizvi - Peepli Live
Maneesh Sharma - Band Baaja Baaraat
Habib Faisal - Do Dooni Chaar
Vikramaditya Motwane - Udaan

Best Actor
Shahrukh Khan - My Name Is Khan
Ranbir Kapoor - Raajneeti
Salman Khan - Dabangg
Onkar Das Manikpuri - Peepli Live
Rishi Kapoor - Do Dooni Chaar
Ajay Devgn - Once Upon A Time In Mumbai

Best Actress
Kajol - My Name Is Khan
Vidya Balan - Ishqiya
Sonakshi Sinha - Dabangg
Anushka Sharma - Band Baaja Baaraat
Neetu Singh - Do Dooni Chaar
Katrina Kaif - Raajneeti

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Arjun Rampal - Raajneeti
Manoj Vajpayee - Raajneeti
Nana Patekar - Raajneeti
Raghuveer Yadav - Peepli Live
Paresh Rawal - Aakrosh
Sonu Sood - Dabangg

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Shruti Seth - Raajneeti
Sarah Thomson Kane - Raajneeti
Ira Dubey - Aisha
Amrita Puri - Aisha
Aditi Vasudev - Do Dooni Chaar
Malaika Shenoy - Peepli Live

Best Music

Amit Trivedi - Aisha

Vishal Shekhar - Anjaana Anjaani

Sajid Wajid - Dabangg

Pritam - Badmaash Company

Vishal Shekhar - Break Ke Baad

Vishal Shekhar - I Hate Luv Storys

Amit Trivedi - Udaan

Best Playback Singer - Male

Toshi Raina - Gal Mithi Mithi - Aisha
Amit Trivedi - Suno Aisha - Aisha
Nikil D 'Souza - Shaam - Aisha
Lucky Ali - Hairat - Anjaana Anjaani
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - Fakeera - Badmaash Company
Neeraj Shridhar - Ajab Leher Hai - Break Ke Baad
Neeraj Shridhar - Kya - Crook
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - Tere Mast Mast Do Nain - Dabangg
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - Dil To Baccha Hai Ji - Ishqiya
Aadesh Srivastava - Mora Piya - Raajneeti
Mohit Chauhan - Pee Loon - Once Upon A Time In Mumbai

Best Playback Singer - Female

Anushka Mani - Lehrein - Aisha
Shreya Ghoshal - Aadha Ishq - Band Baaja Baaraat
Mamta Sharma - Munni Badnaam - Dabangg
Shreya Ghoshal - Chori Kiya Re Jiya - Dabangg
Sunidhi Chauhan - Sheila Ki Jawani - Tees Maar Khan
Sunidhi Chauhan - Ainvayi - Band Baaja Baaraat

Best Lyrics
Amitabh Bhattacharya - Lehrein - Aisha
Vishal Dadlani - Hairat - Anjaana Anjaani
Anvita Dutt Guptan - Fakeera - Badmaash Company
Prasoon Joshi - Adhoore - Break Ke Baad
Faiz Anwar - Tere Mast Mast Do Nain - Dabangg
Niranjan Iyengar - Rang De - My Name Is Khan
Sameer  - Mora Piya - Raajneeti

Dum Dum Dum Mast Hai!

Band Baaja Baaraat...the name doesnt do much justice to the film, in spite of the obvious reference to weddings. At most, it makes it sound like a tacky, over-the-top rendition of a wedding related tale. Thankfully, BBB is anything but that! And are we thankful to YRF for making an enjoyable film devoid of the Swiss Alps and sucky cliches! Hell yeah, we are! Because its been a while since I enjoyed a Hindi movie (Aakrosh was the last I liked, and that was 2 months back).

BBB, a tale of two wedding planners and their partnership, has a brisk narrative and an interesting story at heart. Predictable, yes, but there are enough interesting twists to keep you hooked. The dialogues by Habib Faisal are simple and interesting enough to keep the goings-on fun. Music by Salim-Sulaiman is really good, ranging from lilting tunes to foot-tapping numbers. Ainvehi and Dum Dum are the picks of the lot mainly due to energetic picturization. But what lifts this movie above the average are the performances of the leads as well as character actors and the direction by debutant Maneesh Sharma. Sharma avoids most cliches and although a couple of convenient plotholes escape his notice, we are willing to let that go as long as the movie is engaging. The character artists avoid caricatures and paint realistic yet non-boring characters, which adds to the fun quotient. Debutant Ranveer Singh pitches in a near-perfect performance as as the wannabe Bittoo. He is no Aamir Khan in acting chops, nor does he charm like a Shahid Kapoor but his sincerity can give some of the potential stars-in-the-making a run for their money! Anushka Sharma is a revelation, showing she possesses decent acting skills and carrying a lot of the film on her shoulders. Her looks are hardly conventional and yet she manages to look really good and perform really well. After a so-so performance in Rab Ne Bana Di BS and a half-baked role in the decent Badmaash Company,we are definitely impressed Miss Sharma!

BBB brings the fun back in watching movies, reminding you of an era when not all movies were magnum opuses, not all movies were touted to be the next big thing, not all movies were about more glitz and less script, not all movies were about more slapstick and less simple humor. This one deserves to be paid for and watched, for its an honest effort that delivers more than it promises and ensures you walk out of that cinema hall happy and satisfied. :)

Ganda mazaak hua aitbaar....

Amit Trivedi delivers again and how! Although his latest album NOKJ is no Aisha or Dev D, it still is in a class of its own. I have a project due tomorrow, which I should be working on right now, so lemme get down to business straight away.

Dilli Dilli : Undoubtedly the heart and soul and beat of the album! Pulsating would be an understatement for this rollicking track which has spirited vocals by Tochi, Shriram Iyer and Aditi Sharma. The "d-d-d-d-d-d" hits you like a ton of bricks every single time. Lyrics are earthy and blend amazingly well with the brilliant guitar riffs. Its not even Jan 2011 yet, and I am gonna go out on a limb here and say this is sure to be the track of the year 2011.

Aali Re : Sung by as many as 8 singers (yeah! you read that right! 8! ), Aali re will probably sound really irritating the first time you hear it...It did to me...But rest assured, it is one of the most "mooh-phat" tracks we have heard in Hindi music till date. Amitabh Bhattacharya weaves magic with acidic words and phrases which sting and yet manage to touch your senses - of humor and otherwise. Might turn out to be the most unconventional party track ever if promoted well!

Aitbaar : Vishal Dadlani rocks the rock-ish Aitbaar, which is slightly reminiscent of Nayan Tarse in terms of music arrangements and resembles Zehreeley from Rock On! in terms of vocals, but again manages to stand tall on its own. Lyrics again are caustic and brilliant!

Dua : Starts with some lilting work on the keyboard, and slowly but surely rises to move. Newbie Meenal Jain shines while Amitabh Bhattacharya changes gears to give us some nice lyrics, and also pitching in as one of the three chorus singers. As mentioned before, the song rises from a melody to an anthem, much like Khoon Chala from RDB. The eventual effect is inspiring and exhilarating at the same time.

Yeh Pal : Sung by Shilpa Rao, Yeh Pal has that quality which keeps you gripped to the track inspite of being slightly slow. The instrumental piece in the latter half is particularly well arranged. Something about this song struck me as Rahman'ish, not sure what. But another different and difficult composition that cannot be classified into any genre.

The first promo caught my eye like a spicy Mexican hottie or like an underdog startup which comes out of nowhere to capture 100,000 hits in a few days of launch. The audio has definitely lived up to expectations and the following promos have shown a glimpse of what lies in store. I must confess I have never been a fan of Rani Mukherjee's histrionics but this definitely looks like her comeback movie. That's good news because its been a while since we have seen an actress pack a punch on-screen. As much as I like the long-legged Deepika and the cute Kat, I would rather watch some good acting than over-hyped Sheilas on-screen.

Looks like 2011 is gonna start with a BANG! To more issue-based movies and more Rajkumar Guptas! And of course, more Amit Trivedis and Amitabh Bhattacharyas!