The Indian television business witnessed its second awards ceremony for this year yesterday – The Hero Honda-Indian Television Academy Awards. (Indiantelevision Dot Com Pvt Ltd, which runs indiantelevision.com and is in no way connected with the Indian Television Academy, actually organised the first set of television awards on 6 July 2001 this year – The Indian Telly Awards 2001.)
The Hero Honda-ITA awards ceremony held at the Renaissance Hotel & Convention Canter, Powai, Mumbai was attended by the leading lights of the television and film industry. (Estimates put the attendance figure at about 1,000-1,500). Among the film stars who attended the show were Madhuri Dixit, Raveena Tandon, Sanjay Dutt, David Dhawan and Subhash Ghai. Among the TV stars who attended were Siddharth Kak, Renuka Shahane, Tabssum, Saakshi Tanwar, Ram Kapoor and Gautami Gadgil.
Information & Broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj, member of Parliament Shatrughan Sinha, Prasar Bharati CEO Anil Baijal were among the government representatives who turned up.
The awards were split up into 44 categories: 12 popular, 24 jury awards, and eight technical awards. The show started with the technical awards. The winners:
| Sub-category | Winner | Serial/show/channel |
|---|---|---|
|
Best make-up |
Ashok Pangam |
The Great Warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji |
|
Best costumes |
Pradeep Muley |
The Great Warrior-Chhatrapati Shivaji |
|
Best Audiography |
Suhas Kulkarni/Ramesh Rathod |
Maa Shakti |
|
Best Art Direction |
Nitin Desai |
The Great Warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji |
|
Best Editing |
NDTV |
IT India Tomorrow |
|
Best visual effects |
Cinevista Communications |
Sshhh..Kohi Hai-Vidhyut Electricity |
|
Best cinematography |
Sudeep Chatterjee |
Ankahee |
|
Best Live coverage sports |
TransWorld International |
Four Square Challenge & Rafter Cross |
It was followed by the Jury Awards. The winners are as below:
| Sub-category | Winner | Serial/show/channel/interstitials |
|---|---|---|
| Best children’s programme |
Rila O’Brien/R.P. Chatterjee |
Bournvita Quiz Contest |
| Best cookery show | Sanjeev & Alyona Kapoor | Khana Khazana |
| Best interstitials/fillers | Sahara India | Global refugees |
| Best Title music/song track | Khayyam/Naqsh Lyallpuri | Milan |
| Best dialogues | Ashwani Dhir | Office Office |
| Best mini-series | Deepak Tijori | Thriller At 10-Fareb/X-Zone Milan |
| Best director -comedy | Rajiv Mehra | Office Office |
| Best director-drama | Ajai Sinha | Justujoo |
| Best show packaging | NDTV | Reality Bites in Pakistan |
| Best Teleplay | Chaula Shah/Ashok Patole/Ishaan Trivedi | Justujoo |
| Best Talk/Chat show | Rachna Prasad | We the People |
| Best Music & film based show | Moving Pictures | Ek Kalakar Ki Kahani |
| Best Game/Quiz Show | Siddhartha Basu | Kaun Banega Crorepati |
| Best Mythological/Historical serial | Vinay Apte | The Great Warrior -Chhatrapati Shivaji |
| Best Serial comedy | Smita Chakravarty | Ji Mantriji |
| Best serial -drama | Sangita Sinha/Saurabh Agarwal | Justujoo |
| Best Anchor-Sports | Sonali Chander | Sports Tonight |
| Best Anchor-News & Current Affairs | Rajat Sharma | Janta Ki Adalat |
| Best Anchor-(Music & Films) | Shekhar Suman | Movers & Shakers |
| Best anchor-game quiz | Amitabh Bachchan | Kaun Banega Crorepati |
| Best Actress -Comedy | Archana Puran Singh | Aasmaan Say Tapki |
| Best Actor-Comeday | Farooque Sheikh | Ji Mantriji |
| Best Actress-Drama | Pallavi Joshi | Justujoo |
| Best Actor -Drama | Kanwaljeet Singh | Saans |
The Popular Awards were won by the following:
| Sub-category | Winner | Serial/show/channel |
|---|---|---|
| Best Music Channel | MTV | MTV |
| Best sports presenter/commentator | Harsha Bhogle |
——
|
| Best anchor-based show | Siddhartha Basu | Kaun Banega Crorepati |
| Best Star Cast | Shobha & Ektaa Kapoor | Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi |
| Best Sports channel | Star Sports | Star Sports |
| Best News Channel | Aaj Tak | Aaj Tak |
| Best Host/Hostess | Amitabh Bachchan | Kaun Banega Crorepati |
| Best Actress | Smriti Malhotra Irani | Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi |
| Best Actor | Amar Upadhyay | Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi |
| Best Entertainment Channel | Star Plus | Star Plus |
| Best Actor/actress in a comic role | Pankaj Kapur | Office Office |
| Best Serial | Shobha & Ektaa Kapoor | Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi |
The other notable awards given away were the milestones awards which sought to honour serials of yesteryear.
|
Milestone Awards
|
|---|
| Hum Log |
| Buniyaad |
| Ramayan |
| Mahabharat |
| 1983 Cricket World Cup |
| Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan |
| Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi |
| Karamchand |
| Surabhi |
| Tara |
The show, which began nearly two hours later than the scheduled 7:30 pm, began with a Russian ballet. Veteran actor Kabir Bedi was the first of the show’s several anchors, who hosted the seven segments of the awards. Archana Puran Singh and Parmeet Sethi, Mandira Bedi, Niki Aneja and Rohit Roy, Ranjeet and Sandhya Mridul, Shekhar Suman, Aly Khan (who also hosted The Indian Telly 2001 Awards in July 2001) were the other sub-anchors roped in to host the other segments.
Take offs on the TRP ratings, Doordarshan’s programming and spoofs on TV talk shows peppered the show, in between segments. Current hit Adnan Sami stole the show with his brilliant vocals and lightning fingers.