This had been a year, after all, when nothing and no one was off limits. When young and first-time filmmakers tackled new themes and, audaciously enough, got big banners to fund them. When Farah Khan established herself with Om Shanti Om as the only woman in the all-male league of blockbuster directors. When a little boy called Darsheel Safary brought to life the inner world of a special child trying to break free as the walls close in.

So what better way to kick-start the Bollywood awards calendar than by showcasing and recognising this talent, charisma and style at the Nokia 14th Annual Star Screen Awards presented here this evening.

That’s why it was appropriate that flames erupted on stage and leaped up to touch the evening sky at the Bandra Kurla grounds when Shah Rukh Khan, still with pony tail, danced as he only he can to ‘Dard-e-Disco.’ And seemed to best freeze frame the evening’s spirit: celebrating a Bollywood that’s embracing new voices and new stories, rendering obsolete the old faultlines between mainstream and art, mass and niche, all without making a heavy statement of it.

The glittering evening also belonged to Darsheel Safary, who so quietly lit up the screen and made it a transparent thing, as the little boy with dyslexia in Taare Zameen Par. Darsheel won the special jury award for best actor as well as for the best child actor. The evening belonged to Aamir Khan, whose directorial debut was applauded by the audience whenever it was mentioned by anyone on stage.

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