Celebrating the best of Telugu cinema in 2014, HICC, Novotel the venue of the CineMAA awards event, was like a charming bride preserving all her innate grace and grandeur for the big wedding night. Shyam Bhatia’s royal, palatial set design was more than a solid backdrop to the event, with varied hues of lasers, spectacular chandeliers and golden pathways.
Amidst multiple requests for ‘Star’ and ‘VIP’ passes at security checks, people were desperate to buy some luck from their contacts for a mere glimpse of the star-heavy evening. The stars took some time to make their presence felt, but with Suma and Ali around, the audience hardly had a dull moment.
Shankar Mahadevan set the ball rolling as he crooned diverse tracks ranging from ‘ Mahaprana Deepam’ from Sri Manjunatha to his Breathless , besides tracks from Kal Ho Na Ho, Nuvvu Naaku Nacchav and Taare Zameen Par . The camera zoomed into a child cuddling up on her mother’s lap while he sang ‘Maa’, making for a moment to be treasured. The honours were then even for the likes of Kalpana and Devi Sri Prasad, the latter synonymous for setting the stage on fire as he enthralled music enthusiasts.
Rakul Preet, Regina, Anjali, Sai Dharam Tej, Rai Lakshmi, Raashi Khanna, Anasuya and a set of television actors did their best to get the dance floor moving. Ali’s dig at Raashi’s long dress contributing to the Swacch Bharat campaign sent everyone into splits.
Suma and Ali brought the house down later too with an excellent spoof of Baahubali as they reprised the characters played by Prabhas and Tamannah and took digs at the humungous CG work.
The arrival of each and every star on stage, marked by a roar of welcome, were mini events in themselves. Be it the presence of the Allus, Akkinenis, Daggubatis or Ghattamanenis around, the cheers spoke the soul of the glitzy night. It was surreal to witness three generations of the Ghattamanenis — Krishna, Mahesh Babu and Gautham — bagging awards, from one another . The anticipation over the release of Srimanthudu was palpable. The tribute to Krishna who received a Lifetime Achievement award, reminisced over his legacy, complete with songs and dances from his blockbusters. Children performed to ‘ Telugu Veera Levara’, ‘Tanivi Teeralede’, ‘Aakasamlo Oka Tara’ , in a style unique to the actor. Several young actors and seniors spoke about the personal and professional association they share with the actor.
The guests were also vocal about missing the presence of late ANR and Ramanaidu; in fact Allu Arjun nearly shed a tear for Ramanaidu, while accepting his Best Actor Award for Race Gurram .
Sunitha Krishnan, the producer of the movie on human trafficking, Naa Bangaru Thalli came in for special appreciation for her social work and efforts to rescue nearly 15,000 girl children from brothel homes.
