'Chak de India' rules the roost at IIFA Bangkok

Manisha Rege Bangkok, June 10 (PTI) - Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Chak De! India", a sports film that plays themes of religion and class, won nine honours at the ninth IIFA awards here with Khan receiving the best actor award for his inspiring role as a hockey coach in the film. Khan, who gave a miss to Sunday night's star-studded ceremony here, virtually ruled the function with his home production "Om Shanti Om" winning five awards. Film producer Yash Chopra collected the awards on his behalf. Chak De which was adjudged the best film of 2007, is about a Muslim captain who leaves the game after being wrongly accused of throwing a match against Pakistan in World Cup. He returns after seven years as coach of the Indian women's hockey team, leading them to a World Cup victory. Similarly, the film's director Shimit Amin received the best director's award. Jaideep Sahani received the award for best story for the film. The awards in the technical section won by the film were : cinematography, Sound recording and sound re-recording, editing. Jaideep Sahani shared the screenplay award for the film with Anurag Basu (Life in a Metro). Om Shanti Om, Khan's home production bagged awards for art direction, costumes, special effects and make up. Javed Akhtar also won the best lyricist award for the song 'Main Agar Kahoon'. The awards ceremony was held at the Siam Niramit complex in the heart of Bangkok city. Ritesh Deshmukh and Boman Irani were the hosts of the awards ceremony. The duo reminded many in the audience of SRK who with his wild sense of humour spoofs members of the film fraternity and makes fun of them. They joked about actors having a new "weapon" called blog to take on their fellow actors. There was also a spoof on the films nominated in the best film category. The third host Urmila Matondkar was, however, a disappointment. Kareena Kapoor received the best actress award for her performance in 'Jab we met' while Ifran Khan and Konkana Sen Sharma who were adjudged the best actor and actress in a supporting role were not present to collect their awards. Shaan (Jab se tere naina—Saawariya) and Shreya Ghosal (Barso re megha - Guru) were the best playback singers. A R Rehman received the best music composer -- song recording, background score -- for Guru. Vivek Oberoi won the best actor in negative role trophy while Govinda was the recipient of the best actor in comedy role award. Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone were the recipients of the best debutants of 2007. Akshay Kumar, who lived in Bangkok prior to embarking on path to stardom in Bollywood, was awarded the IIFA honour from Thailand. Idea style icon trophy was given to Abhishek Bachchan and Glamorous diva title went to Katrina Kaif. The Idea fresh face of the year was Neil Nitin Mukesh for his debut film Johnny Gaddar. Noted actress Mumtaz, renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal and music composer A R Rehman were felicitated for their outstanding contribution to Indian cinema. The nearly three-hour extravaganza was marked by scintillating performances from Govinda, Katrina, Kareena, stars of films like Acid Factory, Mission Istanbul, De Taali and Love story 2050. The highlight was the finale by Akshay Kumar who made a dashing entry on stage by sliding down a cable from a corner of the auditorium. He performed a number from his forthcoming film 'Singh is King'. Other films who were adjudged winners in different categories were – Shootout at Lokhandwala (action), Jab we met(dialogue), Vaibhavi Merchant (Choreography of aaja nachle).