By R. Paul Dhillon Reporting From Toronto
TORONTO – Punjabi film industry’s hottest trio of stars Neeru Bajwa, Daljit Dosanjh and Gippy Grewal took home the top actors awards at the inaugural edition of the Punjabi International Film Academy Awards (PIFAA).
All three won for the hit film Jinhe Mera Dil Lutya with Bajwa, the clear favourite in the Best Actress race, easily won for her role as an NRI girl tangled with two Desi Jatts. In the Best Actor category – it seems the organizers didn’t want to upset either of the two rising stars – Dosanjh and Grewal – and awarded both the awards as a tie.
While Bollywood star and Punjabi superstar Jimmy Sheirgill was nominated for Dharti – he clearly didn’t have the role in that film to win him the award even though that film was a drama and featured real acting talent like Rahul Dev and Prem Chopra, who also attended the awards ceremony held at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre last Saturday.
In any case – the organizers didn’t have many films to choose from – which should change in future years as more and more Punjabi films are being released in India and across the world.
About 50 visiting Punjabi film personalities made the trek to Toronto including PIFAA brand ambassador Dharmendra.
He was joined by fellow thespian Om Puri, Sonu Sood, Divya Dutta, Jimmy Shergill, Surveen Chawla, Jonita Doda, Binu Dhillon, Rama Vij, Kamal Khan, , Gurpreet Ghuggi, Arya Babbar, Kapil Sharma as well as writer-directors Navniat Singh and Dheeraj Rattan as well as well known Punjabi music composer Jaidev Kumar.
A crowd of 6000 was at the Air Canada Centre to witness the event, which was a dazzling evening of glamour, glitz and electrifying performances. The spectacular show impressed everyone while the superb hosting by Kapil Sharma and Gurpreet Ghuggi kept the audience glued to their seats.
The evening was full of power packed performances from leading names- Neeru Bajwa, Surveen Chawala, Jonita Doda, Divya Dutta, Daljit Dosanj, Amrinder Singh, Gippy Grewal and Jimmy Shergill. A grand set design, fireworks and energetic dances by Shiamak Dawar’s troupe gave the show an electrifying touch.
Rajinder Saini, President of the Parvasi Entertainment shared his dream of a high quality awards function like Bollywood awards functions and Punjabi cinema and thanked everyone for the
A total of 19 awards were given including Life Time Achievement Award for Punjabi film legend Dara Singh and Public Choice Award for Best Film.
Jine Mera Dil Luteya was a big winner bagging 6 awards including Best film (Public choice) and best director(Mandeep Singh), Best actor (Daljit Dosanjh/Gippy Grewal) and Best actress(Neeru Bajwa),best Screenplay / best dialogue (Dheeraj Rattan) and Best cinematography(Harish Joshi).
Yaar Annmulle bagged 4 awards that included Best Music Director(Gurmeet Singh), Best actor in a negative role( Kartar Cheema), Best performance in a Comic role (Gurpreet Ghuggi) and best Lyricist(Kumaar).
Dharti bagged 3 awards –Best Film (Jury), Best supporting actor – male(Rahul Dev) and Best editor (Manish More). Other award winners included Rama Vij (Best supporting role , female in Khushiyan), Sumitra Iyer(Best Playback singer, Female in Yara O Dildara), Rajan Gangadhar and Trilok Malik (best story for Khushiyan).
