Fans come out for Bollywood Oscars

A film starring a British actress took the top prize at Bollywood’s answers to the Oscars last night.

Alice Patten appeared in Rang De Basanti, or Paint It Yellow, which was named best picture at the Indian film awards in Yorkshire last night.

Celebrities from the world of film and television gathered for the international event – in Sheffield.

Hundreds of screaming fans waited outside the city’s Hallam FM Arena as the stars arrived for the International Indian Film Academy Awards ceremony (IIFA).

Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty was one of the stars who paraded down a green carpet – instead of red – to highlight global warming.

Shetty said raising awareness about climate change was especially important as India’s economy develops rapidly.

“India can be a very important hand globally in this issue,” she said.

During the ceremony, which finished just before 2am today, Shetty performed a medley of Bollywood hits.

Rang De Basanti, a politically charged film about a group of disillusioned Indian youths who turn patriotic, won five awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress and Best Musical Direction.

“It has been a truly fabulous year,” director Rakesh Mehra told the audience.

“2006 has been a landmark year for Indian cinema and this award is much more special when you knows it is among great films. 2006 belongs to a changing time in Indian cinema.”

In the film, Alice Patten – daughter of Britain’s last governor in Hong Kong, Chris Patten – stars as a British filmmaker seeking to tell the story of the nationalists in the 1920s and ’30s fighting back against British colonial rule.

In a second storyline, the army pilot friend of the filmmaker dies in a crash which the government tries to cover up.

Fans voted for the winners from a short-list chosen by the Hindi-language film industry’s experts.

Hrithik Roshan picked up the Best Actor award for his portrayal of a superhero in Krrish, Hindi for There’s No one Like You.

As he collected the prize, he said: “May our children never be afraid to dream the impossible because if someone like me can get this far, nothing is impossible.”

Best Actress was Rani Mukherji for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, or Never Say Goodbye, about infidelity and troubled marriages.

Musical comedy Lage Raho Munnabhai won Rajkumar Hirani the best director award, beating director Vishal Bhardwaj.

Bhardwaj was given a special honour for best adaptation for Omkara, his take on Shakespeare’s Othello.

It was the second in a trilogy adapting the bard’s works, following 2003 hit Maqbool, based on Macbeth.

Last night’s ceremony was held before 12,000 people but will attract a global TV audience of more than 500 million people in 110 countries.

Presenter Boman Irani, who presented the proceedings alongside Laura Dutta, paid homage to Britain by wearing a kilt, a James Bond outfit and a Beefeater costume during the evening.

During the past four days, Yorkshire has hosted a string of events – including a celebrity cricket match in Leeds and a world film premiere in Castleford.