A blockbuster of Scintilating Performances

8
BACK BEAT
HYDERABAD TIMES, THE TIMES OF INDIA
CINEMA, SHENANIGANS AND SUPERSTARS:
SIIMA 2016 WAS A SMASH HIT
TUESDAY 5 JULY 2016
Pics: T Mallikarjun
It rained
performances
as the divas of
the South
vowed with
breathtaking
dance acts
The fifth edition of SIIMA held at Singapore was
nothing short of a blockbuster as the biggest
matinee idols of South Indian cinema
turned up to take part in what was a
scintillating celebration
Devi Sri Prasad
DSP SINGS FOR HIS DAD
The usually boisterous Devi Sri
Prasad turned sombre when he
was asked to sing a few lines on
stage after he picked up his award
for Best Music Director (Telugu).
“This is a song I wrote for my dad,
and I dedicate this all those loving
dads out there who made this life
possible for us…” he said, and
went on to croon a few lines of
Nannaku Prematho… choking with emotion all the
while.
Rakul Preet
Singh
Hansika Motwani
Christina.Francis@timesgroup.com
litz and glamour, pomp and
show, grit and glory, awards
and accolades — Godrej
Goldilocks SIIMA 2016, in its fifth edition, had all the trappings of a perfect
South Indian potboiler. If the red carpet shenanigans of reigning divas of
tinseltown set the temperatures soaring, the high octane naach-gaana and
drama on stage kept the entertainment quotient at an all-time high. And
of course, for all those who walked
away with awards in hand, there was
a happy ending too.
Held at the swanky Suntec
Convention and Exhibition Centre,
Singapore, the two-day extravaganza
that celebrates South Indian cinema
and recognises talent from Tamil,
Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada
film industries got off to a glitzy start
on Day 1, with Bhallaladeva Rana
Daggubati welcoming Singapore’s
South Indian diaspora in true filmy
fashion, complete with a punch dialogue. Taking the baton from him
were hosts for the evening, Lakshmi
Manchu and Ali, who had the audience in splits with their easy banter
through the four-hour show.
Sandalwood’s Akul brought in a fresh
dash of humour with his brilliant emceeing as well. The first evening,
which awarded the best talent of
Telugu and Kannada films of 2015,
saw a stellar attendance from stars
across the South, including matinee
idols Chiranjeevi, Khushbu, Vikram,
Suhasini, Rana, Allu Arjun, Puneeth
Rajkumar, Nithya Menen, and more.
Huma Qureshi’s presence added
Bollywood glam to the do, while Kabir
Bedi made an appearance to mark his
foray into South cinema. The stalwarts cheered on as veteran playback
singer S Janaki was honoured with a
Lifetime Achievement award.
Brilliantly choreographed song
and dance acts by Pragya Jaiswal,
Pranitha Subhash and Rachita Ram
G
added a filmy tadka
to the show. The highlight however was
Sayeesha’s tribute to
the big four of Telugu
cinema
—
Chiranjeevi,
Nagarjuna, Venkatesh
and Balakrishna. In
what was her first ever
stage performance, she shimmied to
hit numbers of all four stalwarts and
also pulled off Chiru’s iconic ‘Veena
Step’ like no one else did before. Devi
Sri Prasad impressed with a high-energy gig, which had the whole crowd
on its feet.
Day 2, which was dedicated to
Tamil and Malayalam films, saw
the auditorium packed to capacity with Singapore’s
milling Tamil-speaking
population.
And
keeping
them
entertained were a
bunch of funny
men and lovely
women — Shiva,
Sateesh, Ranjini Haridas
and Dhanya.
Star power on day two was stellar
too — with Vikram, Nivin Pauly,
Prithviraj, Nayanthara, Radhika
Apte and more making their presence
felt. Veteran filmmaker Panchu
Arunachalam was honoured with a
Lifetime Achievement award. Hansika, Amyra Dastur, Aishwarya
Rajesh and Huma Qureshi put up
some sexy performances. Malayalam star Neeraj Madhav was the
only male actor to perform; and he
set some pretty high standards.
The rockstar of the evening
though was Anirudh. He made a
smashing entry, complete with exotic dancers and dragons, and had
the crowd on their feet for 10 whole
minutes; that too at 2.30 in the
morning. It was a fitting finale to
the grand filmy weekend.
SENSATION OF THE
YEAR: SUDHEER BABU
ALLU ARJUN
BREAKS INTO A
TEEN MAAR DANCE
Sayyeshaa Saigal doing
the iconic ‘Veena Step’
Huma
Qureshi
In Anirudh’s highlight act, he
went off the stage and did a li’l
jig with almost everyone seated among the guests. But Allu
Arjun took it one step further
when he followed Anirudh’s
cue and got on stage with him,
and broke into an impromptu
teen maar dance, in total
Tollywood mass style. Gotto
love the Stylish Star for the
sport that he is.
ALLU ARAVIND WAS THE VILLAIN IN RANA’S LIFE
After recieving the award for Best Actor in a Negative Role from Allu Aravind for
his Bhalaladeva act in Bãhubali, Rana said, “I’m happy to receive this award from
you, ’cos you are the villain in my life.” Then he looked at Chiranjeevi and added,
amidst chuckles, “As kids, neither Charan was scared of you nor I was scared of
my dad. But both of us were terrified of him. If we bunked a class or flunked an
exam, he’d get to know and ensure everyone knew about it.”
MEGA MOMENT ON STAGE
In a fitting tribute to Chiranjeevi, a montage of highlights from the Megastar’s career
was played on stage. But what made the moment truly special was when he was joined
by all his yesteryear heroines on stage, including Radikaa, with whom he’s done scores
of films and Suhasini. Taking him by surprise, Suhasini broke into a song: “Malli malli idi
raani roju…” getting Chiru all moist-eyed. The Mega bonhomie ended with all the
actors crowding around Chiru for a Mega selfie.
SUHASINI HAS A WORD OF
ADVICE FOR ALI AND CO...
Tired of the sexist nature of jokes
doled out by the men folk, led by Ali
on Day 1, and Shiva and Satheesh on
Day 2, Suhasini made an interesting
comment: “You guys are doing an
excellent job, keeping us all entertained with your quick wit. But one
request please — avoid poking fun at
women and kids... that’s in bad taste.”
Truer words were never spoken.
AKHIL GETS RAGGED
BY RANA ON STAGE
Akhil, seemed to be in a hurry
to get off the stage after
collecting the Best Debut
award when Rana came on
stage to pull a fast one about
the breaking news of Akkineni
Akhil
scion’s engagement. “How old
and
Rana
are you, bangaram?” asked
Rana to a baffled Akhil, who
fumbled, “Er, 22…” An amused Rana continued, “Look at me, I’m 32 and I
have not even thought of marriage yet. Look at that Bunny (Allu Arjun) over
there — the day he got married, he forgot all of us his friends. Will you also
forget your friends…?” A visibly embarrassed Akhil retorted, “But you aren’t
my friend, are you…?” even as Rana broke out into peals of laughter.
Rana takes
the Mega
selfie
STARRY, STARRY NIGHTS
Vikram
Nayanthara
Sudheer Babu won the South
Indian Sensation of the Year
award. “It was always a dream
for me to become an actor, and it
was a bigger dream for me to go
to Bollywood. So you can imagine how I felt when someone from Bollywood
actually comes looking
for me, to cast me in a
Hindi film. It’s like a
dream
within
a
dream. And getting
an award called ‘sensation of the year’ is
even more sensational,” beamed Sudheer.
Sushant
Sudheer
Babu
WINNERS
■ BEST FILM | Bãhubali
■ BEST ACTOR | Mahesh Babu
for Srimanthudu
■ BEST ACTRESS | Shruti Haasan for
Srimanthudu
■ BEST DIRECTOR | SS Rajamouli for
Bãhubali
■ BEST ACTOR (Critics) | Allu Arjun for
Rudhramadevi
■ BEST ACTRESS (Critics) | Anushka
Shetty for Rudhramadevi
■ BEST COMEDIAN | Vennela Kishore for
Bhale Bhale Magadivoy
■ BEST DEBUTANT DIRECTOR | Anil
Ravipudi for Pataas
■ BEST DEBUTANT ACTOR (Male) |
Akhil Akkineni for Akhil
■ BEST DEBUTANT ACTOR (Female) |
Pragya Jaiswal for Kanche
■ BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR | DSP
for Srimanthudu
■ MOST STREAMED SONG OF THE YEAR |
DSP for Rama Rama for Srimanthudu
■ BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (Male) |
Simha for Cinema Chupista Maava from
Race Gurram
■ BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (Female) |
Satya Yamini for Mamatala Talli from
Bãhubali
■ BEST LYRICIST | Sirivennela
Seetharama Sastry Kanche
■ BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Male) |
Rajendra Prasad for Srimanthudu
■ BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Female) |
Ramya Krishna for Bãhubali
■ BEST ACTOR IN A NEGATIVE ROLE |
Rana Daggubati for Bãhubali
■ BEST DANCE CHOREOGRAPHER |
Jani for Temper
■ BEST FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER |
Peter Heins for Bãhubali
■ BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER | KK
Senthil Kumar for Bãhubali
■ BEST DEBUTANT PRODUCER |
Vijay Kumar Reddy and Sashidhar
Reddy for Bhale Manchi Roju
■ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD |
S Janaki
■ YOUTH ICON OF SOUTH INDIA |
Samantha
Samantha
For more pictures, go to:
www.photos. timesofindia.com
Pragya
Jaiswal
Dr CJ Roy,
Confident Group
Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Y Guru, MD,
Himalaya Herbals
Celkon Mobiles
Shriya
Saran
Tirumal Reddy
Brinda Prasad,
Chairperson SIIMA
Bijay Mandhani
Shruti Haasan
Registration No. APENG/ 2000/5491, VOLUME No.
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