It was a starry night at the 22nd Indian Television Academy (ITA) Awards held in Mumbai on December 11. The stage was set, in a shimmering golden hue, and if one were sitting in the audience, a neck spasm would be impending with all the turning and trying to spot the celebrities. While chuckling at host and comedian Maniesh Paul’s faux pas, one might also get startled by videography drones buzzing overhead. It was a night of glittering performances, tickling humour, and humble gratifications.
ITA Awards, now in their 22nd year, were started by Anu Ranjan in 2001. She leads the event with her husband, actor-producer Shashi Ranjan. Over the years, the awards recognized and felicitated talents on network television and since 2020 have also taken OTT under their ambit. Apart from jury-decided awards, ITA also has a ‘Popular awards’ category, whose winners are decided by public voting. There are also ‘Special Awards’ given to artists for exceptional performances. One of the recipients was veteran actor Raveena Tandon, who bagged the ‘ITA Scroll of Honour.’
Dressed in a dreamy white ensemble, the star took to Instagram to express her gratitude. “Thank you ITA Awards for this fantastic Scroll of honour celebrating my contribution to Indian cinema. Thank you to my team, my producers, my directors, my co-stars, my well-wishers, my fans. Thank you Jury, and all those who have been there with me on this amazing journey,” she posted. Giving it back to the naysayers, the actor added, “And also to those who didn’t support me… I wouldn’t have ever recognised my inner strength and fought hard to be here where I am, 30 years down the line. Thank you papa. Another one for you.”
Varun Dhawan, sharply dressed in a powder blue suit, received the ‘Actor of the Decade’ award while Ananya Panday bagged the ‘Best Debutant Actress of the Year-OTT’ laurel for her performance in Shakun Batra’s domestic-noir Gehraiyaan. ITA’s Golden Laurel award this year was reserved for The Kashmir Files. Director Vivek Agnihotri, dressed in all black, received the award from the jury’s chairperson and filmmaker Rakesh Roshan. He also took to Twitter to address the occasion. “This award for The Kashmir Files being honoured as the Golden Film of Indian cinema is dedicated to all the victims of religious terrorism,” he tweeted.
While popular TV actor Arjun Bijlani was labelled ‘Entertainer of the Year,’ the ‘Best Actor- Drama-TV’ award was bagged by Nakuul Mehta for his performance in the TV show Bade Acche Lagte Hain 2. StarPlus’s show Imlie received the ‘Best Serial-Drama-TV’ award while mass entertainer Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hain! was named the ‘Best Serial-Comedy-TV.’
When it comes to OTT awards, Jim Sarbh was given the laurel of ‘Best Actor-Drama-OTT.’ Huma Qureshi won the ‘Best Actress – Drama Series - OTT’ award while Scam 1992-fame Pratik Gandhi was awarded ‘Best Negative Actor – Drama -OTT.’ Rocket Boys was declared the ‘Best Web Series- Drama-OTT’, while in the comedy category TVF’s Panchayat S2 bagged the best web series award. Father-son duo Anil and Harshvarrdhan Kapoor, complementing each other in black and white, received awards for ‘Best Actor – Original Film-OTT’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor – Original Film-OTT’ for their performance in Netflix’s Thar.
In the ‘Popular Awards’ category, TV actor Harshad Chopra won the ‘Popular Actor- Drama-TV’ while Bharti Singh received the ‘Popular Actress- Comedy-TV’ award. Neena Gupta received two awards at ITA: ‘Best Actress — Comedy — OTT’ and the ‘Popular Actress-Web.’
(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)