Aamir Khan’s first film as director bagged the big gongs at the 53rd Fair One Filmfare Awards, but the actor was not present to accept them.

Taare Zameen Par beat of Chak De! India, Guru, Jab We Met and Om Shanti Om for the Best Film award. That was after Aamir Khan was announced as Best Director for the same film, coming ahead of veteran craftsman Mani Ratnam. Anurag Basu, Farah Khan, Imtiaz Ali and Shimit Amin were all disappointed. Prasoon Joshi won Best Lyrics for Maa, Amol Gupte for Best Story and Darsheel Safary was honored with the Critics award for Best Actor. That gave December 2007 release Taare Zameen Par a total of 5 Filmfare awards.

However, Darsheel Safary and Aamir Khan lost out to Shah Rukh Khan and Irrfan Khan for Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male) and Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male) respectively. Shah Rukh bagged the coveted accolade for his superb performance in the sports flick Chak De! India and Irrfan for his magnanimous acting in Life In A… Metro.

As expected, Kareena Kapoor was given Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female) for her comedic scenes in Jab We Met. Konkona Sen Sharma, who was nominated twice in the Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female) category, for Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Life In A… Metro, winning it for the latter.

The big music award went to A R Rahman; his composition for Mani Ratnam’s Guru was Best Music. Hip and hop singer Shaan once again showed his prowess when it comes to playback singing, winning yet another Best Playback Singer (Male) for Jab Se Tere Naina from Saawariya. In the Best Playback Singer (Female) category, the competition was close, but in the end it was Shreya Ghosal… once again… for Barso Re from Guru.

The feel good factor awards had no surprises as Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone bagged Best Debut for Male and Female respectively. Deepika rubbed salt in fellow debutante Sonam Kapoor’s wounds a second time, when she also bagged Sony Head N Shoulders Fresh Face Of The Year Award. Sonam and her father had decided not to attend the event as they expected Deepika to get these awards.

Rishi Kapoor was given the Lifetime Achievement Award, Monty Sharma the R D Burman Award for his songs in Saawariya, and father-son Yash and Aditya Chopra got Power Awards. Tabu was named Critics’ Best Actress and Chak De! India Critics’ Best Film.

For a full list of the awards given, please scroll down to the end of the article.

The awards ceremony was held under tight security at Yashraj Studios but some of Bollywood’s big names failed to attend. Missing were the Bachchans, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, Shahid Kapur. Hrithik Roshan, Govinda and Rani Mukherjee. But many of whom mattered were there… Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, John Abraham, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Akshay Kumar.

The show was co-anchored by Vidya Balan, Karan Johar, Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan. The latter two managed to create raves with their double act and had the audience in laughs galore. Himesh Reshammiya may have failed to win any award but he did belt out a few of his most noted tunes, while ever-reliable Akshay Kumar danced enigmatically. New kids on the block Neil Nitin Mukesh and Deepika Padukone also performed, so did Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi.

Awards were given out by Neil Nitin Mukesh, Twinkle Khanna, Priyanka Chopra, Dimple Kapadia, Nirupama Rao, Shaimak Davar, Bipasha Basu, John Abraham and Kunal Kapoor. Saif Ali Khan came on stage to give out the award to his girlfriend Kareena Kapoor while Preity Zinta awarded Aamir Khan, his being accepted by Prasoon Joshi. Rekha gave out the big award of the day, to Shah Rukh Khan for Chak De! India.

Saif Ali Khan ad Shah Rukh Khan awarded their own ‘Na-Real’ awards, recipient of one was Vidya Balan, for her look in Heyy Baby - The Na-Real Award For Wardrobe Malfunction.

The highlight of the evening had to be Rishi Kapoor being bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement award, an hour after his son got the Best Debutante Award. “Twenty percent of my reason for being an actor was that I could win a Filmfare. I am overwhelmed,” said a jubilant Ranbir. Addressing his mother Neetu Singh, Ranbir joked, “Mamma, I am bringing home a girl tonight.” There were rumors running around that a film, starring both Rishi and Ranbir, could be announced… but this wasn’t to be.

The awards will be shown on TV on March 2nd on Sony.

Winners of 53rd Fair One Filmfare Awards

MAIN AWARDS WINNERS:

BEST FILM
Chak De! India
Guru
Jab We Met
Om Shanti Om
Winner: Taare Zameen Par

BEST DIRECTOR
Winner: Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anurag Basu (Life… In A Metro)
Farah Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Imtiaz Ali (Jab We Met)
Mani Ratnam (Guru)
Shimit Amin (Chak De! India)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (MALE)
Abhishek Bachchan (Guru)
Akshay Kumar (Namastey London)
Darsheel Safary (Taare Zameen Par)
Winner: Shahrukh Khan (Chak De! India)
Shahrukh Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Shahid Kapoor (Jab We Met)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (FEMALE)
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Guru)
Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om)
Winner: Kareena Kapoor (Jab We Met)
Madhuri Dixit (Aaja Nachle)
Rani Mukerji (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Vidya Balan (Bhool Bhulaiyaa)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (MALE)
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anil Kapoor (Welcome)
Winner: Irrfan Khan (Life in a… Metro)
Mithun Chakraborty (Guru)
Shreyas Talpade (Om Shanti Om)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (FEMALE)
Winner: Konkona Sen Sharma (Life in a… Metro)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Rani Mukerji (Saawariya)
Shilpa Shukla (Chak De! India)
Tisca Chopra (Taare Zameen Par)

BEST MUSIC
Winner: A R Rahman (Guru)
Monty Sharma (Saawariya)
Pritam (Jab We Met)
Pritam (Life in a… Metro)
Vishal-Shekhar (Om Shanti Om)

BEST LYRICS
Gulzar…Tere Nina (Guru)
Javed Akhtar…Main Agar Kahoon (Om Shanti Om)
Winner: Prasoon Joshi…Maa (Taare Zameen Par)
Sameer…Jab Se Tere Naina (Saawariya)
Vishal Dadlani…Aankhon Mein Teri (Om Shanti Om)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE)
A R Rahman …Tere Bina (Guru)
K K…Aankhon Mein Teri (Om Shanti Om)
Winner: Shaan…Jab Se Tere Naina (Saawariya)
Sonu Nigam…Main Agar Kahoon (Om Shanti Om)
Sukhawinder Singh…Chak De (Chak De! India)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE)
Alisha Chinai…It’s Rocking (Kay Love Story Hai)
Winner: Shreya Ghosal …Barso Re (Guru)
Shreya Ghosal …Yeh Ishq Hai (Jab We Met)
Sunidhi Chauhan …Sajanaji Vari Vari (Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.)
Sunidhi Chauhan …Aaja Nachle (Aaja Nachle)

OTHER AWARDS WINNERS:

Best Debut (Male): Ranbir Kapoor - Saawariya
Best Debut (Female): Deepika Padukone - Om Shanti Om

Sony Head N Shoulders Fresh Face of the Year Award: Deepika Padukone

Lifetime Achievement Award: Rishi Kapoor
Power Awards: Yash Chopra & Aditya Chopra
R. D. Burman Award: Monty Sharma (Saawariya)

Best Story: Amol Gupte - Taare Zameen Par
Best Screenplay: Anurag Basu - Life in a… Metro
Best Editing: Amitabh Shukla - Chak De India
Best Dialogue: Imtiaz Ali - Jab We Met
Best Special Effects: Red Chillies Entertainment - Om Shanti Om
Best Choreography: Saroj Khan (Barso Re Megha Re - Guru)
Best Background Score: A. R. Rahman - Guru
Best Action: Rob Miller - Chak De India
Best Art Direction: Samir Chanda - Guru
Best Sound: Leslie Fernandes - Johnny Gaddaar
Best Cinematography: Sudhip Chatterjee

CRITICS’ AWARDS WINNERS:

Best Actor: Darsheel Safary - Taare Zameen Par
Best Actress: Tabu - Cheeni Kum
Best Film: Shimit Amin - Chak De India

What to do you make of these awards… were the right people given the right awards… did Om Shanti Om deserve to win a major award… should awards be given to Aamir Khan if he doesn’t attend the ceremonies… have award shows now lost their edge… whatever you think, we would love to hear from you. Please use the comments section below for your feedback.