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The Academy Awards, Oscars to be precise in public parlance, were conducted recently at the Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles, with numerous films across the globe vying for 24 different categories. In the end Argo was adjudged the Best Picture and Ang Lee directed Life of Pi got home with the Maximum awards – 4 to be precise – Best Cinematography, Best Music, Visual Effects and off course the Best Director.
The Oscars all through the years gone by, have a rich tradition and a history of great presenters and everyone remotely connected to the awards would want to know how the anchors did their bit. Right from Bob Hope to Billy Crystal and from Whoopi Goldberg to John Stewart, the Oscars have had quite a few good humoured blokes who have come up with some witty one-liners and jokes aplenty. And there have been the not so good ones in David Letterman and the last year ones – Anne Hathaway and James Franco.
This year though, the show hosted by Seth Macfarlane saw him in his usual edgy self as he indulged in a musical tribute to female frontal nudity in the movies and spared no one from Adele to Aniston, the jury would soon be out scrutinising his performance. In the meanwhile, we saw this as a great time to have a look at what our own Desi stars have done at the award ceremonies.
The wittiness of the King Khan and the flamboyance of Saif Ali Khan have had a lasting impression on the Indian audiences in the recent past. The duo have been a hit jodi and have gone onto host the Filmfares a record 4 times, right from lambasting the critics, Kantaben kisses, Naariyal Awards, jokes on Aamir Khan, Salman Khan to alternate endings to Kal Ho Naa Ho and what not. However, there have been actors like Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vidya Balan and R. Madhavan who have given it back to them at their game. In fact there was a time when Filmfare went with Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan for the ceremony in 2012, only to be back with the Khans this year on public demand! Many would agree with me if I say that the duo are by far the Best Awards show hosts from the land of the Ganges.
To add to this, Shah Rukh Khan has also hosted Star Screen Awards and IIFA Awards.
Yes, Sajid Khan has hosted the Star Screen Awards, Zee Cine Awards and Apsaras numerous times in the past, you name it and he has it check-marked on his list. However, his controversial dig at Ashutosh Gowarikar’s hero Harman Baweja, concerning awful representation in Love Story 2050 led to a public spat at the Screen Awards. Gowarikar went onto state that such a puerile humour is not something he expects at awards ceremonies and more screen time and respect must be garnered to the performers toiling their day in and out. Last heard the 2 are said to be ‘friends’ now.
Apart from such shows he also had India’s longest running countdown show – Ikke Pe Ikka , Superstars and a few MTV chat shows and was a judge on dance reality show- Nach Baliye.
The quintessential heartthrob of the Generation Y has had a decent record when it comes to hosting the Awards Night as he went onto host Filmfare for 3 years, however he was taken off this year as the awards show presenters wanted Saif-SRK back, to add spice and chutzpah to the show. His Silk Smitha-Nylon Shanti act with SRK didn’t went too well with the critics in 2012. The Neetu-Rishi lad would soon be seen hosting the first ever Times of India Film Awards to be held in Vancouver from 4th-6th April 2013, alongside Anushka Sharma.
Karan Johar is your all-in-one: TV show host, Director, Producer, Stylist and yes, our very own Billy Crystal – KJo. Filmfares, Apsaras, Global Indian Film and Telly Awards and even IIFA, he is one man you can always bank upon when you are looking for an able presenter who can not only look elegant and dapper but also crack some witty one-liners and be an amiable host. But its actually his talk show Koffee with Karan that the Indian masses would remember more than his Awards ceremonies.
The 2 cheesy actors Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh have had the audience in splits time and again at the IIFA ceremonies, be it in Bangkok, Macau, Toronto or down south Colombo. However due to date issues and also a falling popularity with jokes beginning to be repetitive, there was a need felt lately to replace them with Shahid Kapur and Farhan Akhtar in the last outing at Singapore, the previous year.
He has been inviting everyone for a song and dance event for the most sought after turn of event in his life, promises ‘Sangeet’ and the entire film industry’s wishes and congregation. Relax maidens, he is still not marrying, the brawn star has just hosted his first Awards Night at the Renault Star Guild Awards, to be aired soon on March 23, yes, a month from now and thus joined a bunch of glittering stars from the Hindi Film Jagat. His act would be something to look forward to by all the gossip queens and the voyeuristic media, waiting for the next on the SRK-Salman war.
Going forward we would want the Manish Paul’s, and the Ayushmann Khuranna’s to hold the baton and put up a good show someday. Comparing ourselves with the West is still something quite far as one should concentrate on forming an Academy of sorts and not just having multiple 5-panel juries doling out awards every other night, a way through which we can have more credibility for such events. More so, awards categories that tend to please everyone should be done away with. As the case stands these days, one of the awards show doled out awards in 3 different formats: Critics, Popular and Entertaining so there were actually 3 Best Actors, so on and so forth and had even categories like – Most Well Publicised Movie for that matter (We all know who won it that year, don’t we!). And Ya, a few surprises would do well with changing times, maybe an Aamir Khan next year post Dhoom3’s release would be better than watching the same slapstick comedy, same shots exuding fake dramatic moments, and the same Rekha in a golden Kanjeevaram..!
Between you and me!
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