ZEE CINE AWARDS 2010 @Marina Bay Sands Grand Ballroom!

I know I should be really really glad and happy now but my flu and recently developed cough has sort of tired me out.
I really don't want to do a post right now but i KNOW its best to do one right after the event so everything's still fresh in your mind. Also I have a feeling that if i dont' let everything out, I'd go to sleep unhappy.

okay, so here goes.

I went with my mum and sister for the ZEE CINE AWARDS held in Marina Bay Sands Grand Ballroom and I was super duper excited! We got there pretty early and mum valet-parked the car at the hotel cuz we honestly didn't see any car park for the convention hall and stuff and we honestly thought it was held at the hotel. So we quickly found out that its actually opposite the road and we can take the underpass. Hence, we sat down at this bar, very chic and had a drink. I had a virgin margharita cuz I had taken panadol before I left(damn thing doesn't work). At like 7 we went to the venue very diligently. They opened the dorrs at like7.27 and we were seated by like 7.45. Mind you the ticket said 7.30.

The security person on stage after some time kept telling people to be seated otherwise they can't start. People were still streaming in at 8.30. People kept standing up at the area infront of the curtain, supposedly the "red carpet" area la and they couldn't start till everyone was more or less seated. So eventually I think we only started the show at like 9 or so.

The beginning was sort of shaky. There were issues with the camera because for some reason the camera would be stuck on either vidya balan or shatrughan sinha and his wife, or else pointed to the floor. While Akshay and Sajid talked for at LEAST 15 to 20 minutes, we couldn't see their faces on the screen. Then at some point, the screen went blank. By that time people were making a lot of noise and BOOING. I'm sorry to say but my MOTHER did it too! and my sister said it once but my mother kept AT IT a few times! I mean hey technical difficulties SHOULD be expected, let them know but don't BOO FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!

The thing is that the emcees Akshay and Sajid didn't KNOW that we couldn't see them so they tried continuing on and apparently looked absolutely terrified when the audience started booing them obviously because they thought that they were booing at them not at the lack of a visual. Then someone came on the mike saying "We are experiencing technical difficulties bla bla bla" after maybe 5 to 10 minutes more of no cameras, there was an announcement saying that the official recording of the show would start now and then everything went on pretty smoothly.

At SOME point, my mother got pissed off again because she couldn't see the stage even with the binoculars because we had three fairly tall men sitting in front of us and there were tiers on for ever three rows. So she asked me to move down a seat. The thing is the woman that was sitting next to me had gotten up and left during the commotion but I didn't know if she was coming back or not cuz she had HAD a drink and packet of chips in her hand so she might have gone outside to get something. So I told her there's someone sitting here, cannot move. So she was pissed at me. Well she had that LOOK on her face. Couple of moments later I asked the man sitting on the other side of the empty seat if he knew if the woman was coming back but he said he didn't know. Unable to tahan her sulky face any longer, my sis was just " Let's just move down" so we did and she moved down too a few seconds later. EVEN THEN she still had that face on, so I told her she could have MY seat if she wanted cuz thankfully no one was sitting infront of me, in the next row, though of course there were people sitting in front of me in the subsequent rows.

During this ENTIRE time, I was somewhat dully watching the screen that again was thankfully, like right above our heads so THAT was good. They gave out all the technical awards and stuff and unfortunately I can't remember who won most of them except for the ones I sent out in sms-es. Eventually my mood lifted when I saw that mama had gotten OVER the whatever and was finally smiling and stuff. However, quite frankly, because this IS my blog, I WILL say what I want here; she did ruin the experience for a while. Like the first 45 minutes. Which isn't fair. So yeah.

Okay, Now I don't know if you want any surprises when you watch the show in 2 weeks time or if you want me to give the LOW down on everything but I'll just put a disclaimer here.

DISCLAIMER: THE NEXT PART GIVES A BLOW-BY-BLOW(as far as I can) OF THE ZEE CINE AWARDS SHOW. IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, SKIP AHEAD OR DON'T READ. thank you.

Okay, there were about 5 performances, by Arjun Rampal and some other actresses, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, AISHWARYA RAI-BACHCHAN, AND SHAH RUKH KHAN. There were also like these little gags and things la obviously, one involving Chunkey Pandey(very accommodating), Hrithik and Sussane Roshan. Well the last one wasn't specifically a gag per say just very entertaining. Neha Dupia and Sophie Choudary helped out with the hosting too at some point. I gotta say though that these stars show a LOT of love for each other, on stage at least. I was very happy with the performances of Arjun, Deepika, Aishwarya and Srk. Quite honestly I was NOT expecting the latter 2 to be performing and I think the crowd wasn't either so they really CHEERED LOUDLY!!! Although, I think it was very very smart of the organisers to get those people to perform because they all got awards. Arjun got for I think best supporting actor, Deepika got for international icon(female), (Ranbir Kapoor got international icon male;ironic don't cha think?), Aishwarya got best actress(jury choice) and Shah rukh got best actor(popular). PC(priyanka chopra) didn't get anything, as far as I can remember but she put on like 6 little skits things, representing each of the nominated films, so I think she had plenty screen time. She did them REALLY well too! Unfortunately, I had not watched like 4 out of 6 of the movies that were nominated so I couldn't really enjoy the skits though the one for My Name Is Khan was really quite funny!

Akshay Kumar and Sajid Khan had apparently installed this trampoline next to the podium at one end of the stage so when the stars had to come up and collect their awards, they made them literally JUMP FOR JOY which I thought was quite hilarious and they were all quite willing to do it! Vidya Balan was wearing a SARI and quite high heels and she jumped like three times! It was so cute la and so unexpected somehow. Even Aishwarya did a little hop, though I think she could have jumped more since later on Vidya's heels were definitely higher than hers.
The thing that SRK did with hrithik and sussane was sooooo hilarious and cute! After his performance(!!!!) he started talking about being a good hubby and all that and asked hrithik to come on stage. Then he went on to talk about how everything hrithik's done, he's taught him. THEN he asks sussane to come on stage for a few minutes because he wants to show hrithik how to treat your wife. She sits on a throne and there's like Sajda playing, and hrithik has to follow all of srk's actions and he TOTALLY does! there's like confetti thrown on her, and practically worshipping her . It was so romantic and lovely and so funny at the same time.

I had a wonderful time, despite the issues at the beginning. And in case you were wondering, I told my mum just now that I was quite unhappy with how she behaved. Of course she gave it back to me, because I was inflexible in moving down a seat. I DID it eventually, but i suppose at that moment when she asked, I should have done it. WHATEVER.

OH! for those family members of mine who read the blog, don't mention it to my mother please. And please listen to HER version of the night and don't mention about me being unhappy or anything. PLEASE.

thanks so much!

All in all, i was EXTREMELY glad that mama bought the tickets to go and even tough I didn't see any stars up close, or get an autograph, with the binoculars that we had borrowed from Auntie J, I could TOTALLY see them on stage and THAT was exciting!
So I LOVED LOVED LOVED it and I can't WAIT for them to come back!!!

LOTS OF LOVE,
SHINI