STAR SCREEN AWARDS 2002
Full List Of Winners

The Asian Paints 8th Annual Star Screen Awards for Execellence in Cinema (the longest title ever quipped Shah Rukh Khan) finally gave their verdict on Mumbai's tinselville on 18th January 2002 at the Andheri Sports Complex, Mumbai. A mixed affair, many of the nominees didn't make it to the show.

Though Shah Rukh, Kajol, Rekha, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Hrithik Roshan, Esha Deol, Amisha Patel, Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan made up for the lack of other stars at the show. But conspicuous by their absence were Aamir Khan (but naturally), the Kapoor sisters (Karisma and Kareena), A R Rahman, Sunny Deol who featured prominently as nominees.

Sonali Kulkarni, Namrata Shirodkar and Mahima Chaudhary took turns to co-host the show with the ever-charming Rahul Khanna. The performances that evening included star acts by Saif Ali Khan, Amisha Patel, Raveena Tandon, Akshaye Khanna, Gracy Singh and the mandatory finale by Shah Rukh Khan.

Pen Masala was a foreign act from Pennsylvania, where the group of boys made music with their mouth instead of using conventional musical instruments. Singer Sunidhi Chauhan dressed as a diva joined the group and sang some of her popular songs against their music. Saif, Raveena and Gracy enthralled the audience as they danced on some of their popular songs like 'Jise dhoondhta hoon', 'Yeh raat' and 'Radha kaise nale jale' respectively.

Amisha Patel danced on a medley of popular songs of 2001 while Akshaye Khanna did a take-off on Shammi Kapoor in a medley of songs made popular by the 'Yahoo' star.

The night was rounded off by Shah Rukh Khan who made his entry on stage by a helicopter. He then went on to parody his famous dialogue from Mohabbatein 'Ek ladki thi deewani' and danced it off with the popular songs of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

The winners were announced amidst all these. Among the 24 categories listed, Lagaan walked away with 8 awards including the Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, while Dil Chahta Hai walked away with 7 awards. But Dil Chahta Hai scores further with two more awards - the Special Jury awards given to Farhan Akhtar as a promising director and Akshaye Khanna for handling a "multilayered role in Dil Chahta Hai with poise and intensity."

The highlights of the event was nevertheless Shammi Kapoor being felicitated with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Salman Khan. The unusual choice of Salman Khan came about because he's the favourite of Neila Devi, Shammi Kapoor's wife who finds a lot of similarities in him and the young Shammi Kapoor in terms of image, attitude and life.

Salman clearly seemed overwhelmed at bestowing an award to a legend, and mumbled something to the effect that "it takes a big heart to quit when you are right at the top. And Shammiji is one of them." Then there was Madhuri Dixit who paid a touching tribute to Dadamoni, that is the late Ashok Kumar.

The Showman of the Millennium Award was awarded to the late Raj Kapoor which was received by Randhir Kapoor from the lissome Aishwarya Rai, the leading lady of the last RK Film release, Aa Ab Laut Chalen.

A new category was included in this year's Screen Awards. That is the Best Romantic Couple of the Year which unanimously went to Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol for their wonderful chemistry in films like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and the recently released K3G. What made the award even more special were the presenters - Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, a pair that was very popular in the seventies.

What the audiences won't forget in this year's award is debutant Madhavan, smiling and clapping away graciously as Arjun Rampal picked up the Best Newcomer (Male) Award. Arjun raised the award to the two women in his life - wife Mehr Jesia and his newborn, daughter, Maahika born a day before the event.

Asha Bhosle gave voice to her astonishment that she's "receiving awards every 8 days. I have got more reasons to be happy, and that's the presence of my new-born grandchildren, who are twins - a boy and a girl."

The downside of the event though were the announcement of some the popular awards winners. While the announcement of Saif Ali Khan for supporting actor got unanimous approval from the audiences, the announcement of Raveena Tandon as the supporting actress for Aks met with a stony silence.

The announcement of Kajol as the Best Actress for K3G set off a murmur, while Sunny Deol as the Best Actor with Gadar had the audience in no mood to wait till the end of the show. They all started filing out. The reasons were clear that while Sunny and Kajol gave great performances, Amisha Patel, Tabu, and Aamir Khan (who was nominated for two films - Lagaan and DCH) in their respective categories were better.

Screen Awards - 2002 Winners:

BEST FILM : Lagaan
BEST DIRECTOR : Ashutosh Gowarikar (Lagaan)
BEST ACTOR : Sunny Deol (Gadar)
BEST ACTRESS : Kajol (K3G)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING/PARALLEL ROLE :
Saif Ali Khan (DCH)

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING/PARALLEL ROLE :
Raveena Tandon (Aks)

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS : Beeps (DCH)
BEST ART DIRECTION : Nitin Desai (Lagaan)
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY : Farah Khan ('Jise Dhoondta'/DCH)
BEST ACTION : Tinnu Varma (Gadar)

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER - MALE :
Arjun Rampal (Pyar, Ishq Aur Mohabbat)

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER - FEMALE :
Gracy Singh (Lagaan)

BEST STORY : Ashutosh Gowarikar (Lagaan)
BEST SCREENPLAY :
Ashutosh Gowarikar, Kumar Dave & Sanjay Dayma (Lagaan)

BEST DIALOGUE : Farhan Akhtar (DCH)
BEST EDITING : Ballu Saluja (Lagaan)
BEST SOUND RECORDING : Ashwyn Balsaver (Zubeidaa)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY : Anil Mehta (Lagaan)

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A NEGATIVE ROLE :
Manoj Bajpai (Aks)

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE : Ranjit Barot (Aks)
BEST MUSIC : Shankar Ehsaan Loy (DCH)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE) :
Sonu Nigam ('Tanhaiyee'/DCH)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE) :
Asha Bhosle ('Radha kaise na jale'/ Lagaan)

BEST LYRICS : Javed Akhtar ('Jaane kyon log'/DCH)

SPECIAL AWARDS :
Special Jury Award for Promising Director :
Farhan Akhtar (DCH)

Special Jury Award for Best Performace :
Akshaye Khanna (DCH)

Lifetime Achievement Award : Shammi Kapoor
Best Romantic Pair of the Year : Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol
The Showman of the Millennium Award : Raj Kapoor

WRITTEN BY ANUSHA SAMIR GILL