Night belongs to Paan Singh Tomar, Barfi!, Kahaani

Sonakshi Sinha danced with great verve, with proud parents Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha applauding. Bachchan Senior looked as pleased when son Abhishek went up to get his best Actor in a Comic Role Award for Bol Bachchan (he split it with Annu Kapoor, who won it for Vicky Donor).

It was the coveted Ramnath Goenka Award that settled the tone of the evening though. The fact that Gangs of Wasseypur, a dark, gritty, violent multi-generational saga of small-town gangsters, won this award tells us that an audience has come of age and can appreciate a film on its own merits.

Editor-in-Chief of the Express group Shekhar Gupta talked of how cinema has become the most powerful communication tool, and how Gangs of Wasseypur is "a film that journalists love, because it came out just at the time when the coal scam broke".

This drew a smile from the chief guest, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, whose brief speech also touched upon the "very important" contribution cinema has made to society.

For an industry that is arguably the biggest in the world, there can't be better news. For, as the awards list showed, finally there are enough films coasting on script and story and performances — leading us to hope this would now be the norm than the exception.

Bollywood is growing up. And we were at hand, watching. And applauding.

And the award goes to...

Best film: Paan Singh Tomar

Best director: Anurag Basu for Barfi!

Best actor (male): Irrfan (Paan Singh Tomar), Ranbir Kapoor (Barfi!)

Best actor (female): Vidya Balan (Kahaani)

Ramnath goenka award: Gangs of Wasseypur

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male): Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Talaash),

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female): Dolly Ahluwalia (Vicky Donor)

Best Actor in a Negative Role: Tigmanshu Dhulia (Gangs of Wasseypur)

... contd.

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