GUWAHATI, Feb 16 - Guwahati witnessed one of the most glamorous events of Indian film industry last night in the form of the 65th Filmfare Awards where filmmaker Zoya Akhtar�s Gully Boy made it big with top honour of best film, and its lead actors Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt walking away with awards for best actor in male and female categories respectively.
The acclaimed film bagged as many as 13 awards in various categories with Zoya Akhtar receiving the best director award.
Anubhav Sinha�s Article 15 won the critics award for best film and also fetched critics award for best actor (male) for its lead actor Ayushmann Khurrana. Critics best actor in leading role (female) went to versatile actresses Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu for the film Saand Ki Aankh.
Sonchiriya by Abhishek Chaubey shared the critics award for best film with Article 15. Arijit Singh and Shilpa Rao bagged the best playback singer in male and female categories for the songs Kalank nahi and Ghungroo respectively.
The awards function, undoubtedly special for the people of Assam as well as Bollywood fraternity, for the first time had moved out of Mumbai which is the home of Hindi cinema.
Though regional Filmfare awards are organised in different parts of India, the venue for the main awards was shifted for the first time to Guwahati.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal along with super star Akshay Kumar presented the 65th Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award to veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy. A cheque of Rs 1.6 crore � which was 50 per cent of the proceeds from sale of tickets for the award show � was presented to the Chief Minister�s relief fund by Times Group managing director Vineet Jain.
A bevy of Bollywood stars mesmerised the audience with their performances and by their sheer presence. The city, on the other hand, welcomed them warmly to a packed auditorium. Though the award ceremony started late due to delay in arrival of chartered flights carrying some of the celebrities, spectacular performances of heartthrobs like Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar and Madhuri Dixit swept people off their feet.
The show was hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar and popular actors Vicky Kaushal and Varun Dhawan. The array of stars included Govinda, Bhumi Pednekar, Ananya Pandey, Mouni Roy, Urvashi Rautela among others.
A Bihu performance by Aimee Baruah and team received enthusiastic response from the audience while a Sattriya performance presented the rich culture of Assam in front of guests from Bollywood.
Dampeners: Though singer Zubeen Garg was present in the function, veterans from Assamese cinema like Jahnu Barua, Adil Hussain, Angaraag Papon Mahanta and Rima Das did not attend the show. On the other hand, a number of popular local artistes had boycotted the show opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Though the award function received a huge response from the people, fans were disheartened by the absence of stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hema Malini, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Sara Ali Khan, Disha Patani, Shraddha Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez and former brand ambassador of Assam Tourism Priyanka Chopra.
�The show was barely star-studded as most of the leading ladies of Bollywood gave it a miss. Even singer Arijit Singh, who got the best singer award, was missing. Overall, the show was slow and got monotonous at one point of time,� said Sameer Jain, who flew in from Kolkata for the award function.
Moreover, some lapses on the part of organisers also disheartened the audience. �The bio-toilets put up for the gathering were not just insufficient in number but were inconveniently placed. Toilets were not separately located for male and female. Besides, the bulbs in toilets were missing and some of such units also did not have latches on the doors. The organisers must take action against those who installed these toilet units,� Shipra P Hazarika, a Guwahati-based entrepreneur, said.
A small food court and inadequate supply of food items to cater to a huge gathering also irked people, specially after the event was delayed. Some among the audience also complained about an overdose of indecent contents in the show.