Watch Video: 3 Idiots Sweeps IIFA Awards

'3 Idiots' that created history by becoming one of the most successful films in Hindi cinema walked away with 11 trophies at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards that concluded in Colombo with a flourish early on June 6, being declared the Best Film, while the Best Director award went to Rajkumar Hirani and the Best Actress award to Kareena Kapoor for the same movie.

Kareena shared the award with Vidya Balan, who was honoured for perfectly portraying the role in 'Paa' of a single mother whose son is suffering from progeria.

Sanjay Dutt, Bollywood's affable Munnabhai, walked away with the Best Comic Actor trophy for his rib-tickling performance in 'All The Best', while Boman Irani received the Best Actor in A Negative Role honour for his brilliant portrayal of an eccentric professor in '3 Idiots'.

Sharman Joshi, who played Aamir Khan's friend in '3 Idiots', won the Best Supporting Actor award, while Divya Dutta received Best Supporting Actress honour for her performance in 'Delhi 6'.

In the special award category, well-known Hindi filmmaker J. Omprakash and Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan's maternal grandfather, who made films like 'Aap Ki Kasam' (1974) , 'Aasha' (1980) and 'Aas Paas' (1981), was honoured for his outstanding contribution to cinema.

Versatile actor Anil Kapoor, who made his mark in the international arena with British filmmaker Danny Boyle's multiple award winning rags-to-riches drama 'Slumdog Millionaire', was honoured for outstanding achievement by an Indian in international cinema. And yesteryears glamour girl Zeenat Aman was honoured for Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema.

While Bollywood heart throb Salman Khan was given the Habitat for Humanity award, his not-so-good friend Vivek Oberoi, who has been in the news for all the wrong reasongs ever since he arrived for the IIFA awards, was honoured with the Panasonic Global Green award.

Pritam Chakraborty won the Best Music Director Award for composing lilting numbers for 'Love Aaj Kal' and Swanand Kirkire bagged the Best Lyrics Award for the super-hit movie '3 Idiots'.

In the playback singing category, the Best Female Playback Singer award went to Kavita Seth for crooning 'Ik tara' in 'Wake Up Sid' and the Best Male Playback Singer Award went to Shaan for the hit number 'Behti hawa sa thaa wo' in '3 Idiots'.

Sri Lankan actress Jacqueline Fernandez, who made her Bollywood debut with 'Aladin', was declared Star Plus Debut of the Year (Female). Apart from Jacqueline, Mahi Gill, who played the modern age Paro in Anurag Kashap's new interpretation of 'Devdas' titled "Dev D", too bagged the Star Plus Debut of the Year (Female) award.

'3 Idiots' fame Omi Vadiya, who had people rolling in the aisles with his antics in the super-hit movie, received the Star Plus Debut of the Year (Male) award along with Jackie Bhagnani - the young actor who made his debut with the not-so-successful movie 'Kal Kissne Dekha'.

Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra received the Best Story Award for penning the interesting tale of '3 Idiots'.

'3 Idiots' baggged the maximum technical awards. The film won the Best Sound Recording Award for Nihar Ranjan Samal and Sachin K. Sanghvi. The Best Sound Re-recording went to Anup Dev, the Best Song Recording Award went to Sachin K. Sanghvi, the Best Background Score Award went to Sanjay Wandrekar, Atul Raninga and Shantanu Moitra, while C.K. Muraleedharan received the Best Cinematography Award for '3 Idiots'.

Bosco Caesar won the Best Choreography Award for directing popular dance moves in 'Love Aaj Kal', the Best Costume Design Awrard went to Anahita Shroff and Dolly Ahluwalia for the same film, which had Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles.

Sabu Cyril won the Best Art Direction Award and Charles Darby won Best Special Effects (Visual) Award for Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Aladin'.

For designing mindblowing action sequecnes in the crime thriller 'Kaminey', Shyam Kaushal was honoured with the Best Action Award and the Best Makeup Award went to the international make-up artists Christien Tinsley & Dominie Till for giving a progeria patient look to Amitabh in 'Paa'.

Abhishek's Celebrity Hairstylist Revealed

It wasn't any celebrity stylist but National award winning filmmaker Mani Ratnam himself who gave superstar Abhishek Bachchan his military-style crew-cut for the upcoming film 'Raavan'.

The haircut was a result of a long standing promise that Abhishek made to Ratnam a few years back while shooting for 'Yuva'.

"Mani Ratnam wanted Abhishek to cut his hair for 'Yuva’. But Abhishek ended up keeping his own hairstyle with a promise in store that one day he 'will allow Mani Ratnam to cut his hair'. And so on the first day of the shooting in Kerala on the sets of 'Raavan', Mani himself gave Abhishek the ‘Beera’ hair style," said a source.

Abhishek usually spends a lot of time detailing the look for his characters. While he had put on several kilos to look the part of Gurukant Desai in 'Guru', he shed a lot of weight for 'Raavan'.

Co-produced by Reliance BIG Pictures, 'Raavan' is set for a June 18 release. It also features Aishwarya Rai, southern star Vikram, Govinda and Ravi Kishan.

‘Kites’ Grosses Rs.65 Crore Worldwide in Opening Weekend

The Hrithik Roshan-Barbara Mori starrer “Kites” grossed over Rs.65 crore in its opening weekend worldwide, according to its distributor.

“Kites” released across 2,000 screens in India and across 500 screens overseas Friday.

The film has been distributed by Reliance BIG Pictures and produced by Hrithik’s father Rakesh Roshan. Directed by Anurag Basu, it is a love story between an Indian man and a Mexican woman.

An international version of the movie titled “Kites-The Remix”, edited by Hollywood director Brett Ratner is also releasing worldwide May 28. Kites weekend box office collection are very good as some review are negative.

‘Kites’ will be the Business Successor of ‘3 Idiots’

New Delhi, Super duper hit and the successor of “3 Idiots” is how multiplex bosses predict the future of Hrithik Roshan-Barbara Mori starrer international love story “Kites”, which is releasing Friday.

“We have very high expectations from ‘Kites’ as after ‘3 Idiots’ this will be the biggest release. We are going to have 13 shows per three screen and 14 shows per four property respectively for the movie,” Deepak Taluja, senior vice president (business and operations) of Fun Cinemas, told IANS.

“In terms of paid previews, as of now we just have one show (for Thursday night) but if (booking) response will be good, we’ll look for more,” he added.

A senior executive from PVR cinemas said on condition of anonymity that “Kites” has a very good pre-release buzz. “And after ‘3 Idiots’, we have very high hopes with this one. If all goes well, this could anywhere be the successor of ‘3 Idiots’.”

“On an average we are keeping around 10-15 shows per property for the movie. The advance bookings have already opened and it’s picking up well while the paid preview bookings for Thursday is decent so far,” the source added.

Produced by Rakesh Roshan and directed by Anurag Basu, “Kites” is a mega-budget venture worth Rs.150 crore in three versions – English, Hindi and Spanish. While the Hindi version will hit screens Friday, the crisper and racier English version, edited by Hollywood fame Brett Ratner, is scheduled for a May 28 release.

The film also stars Kabir Bedi and Kangana Ranaut in cameos.

Releasing simultaneously on more than 2,300 screens worldwide, including over 500 overseas in over 60 countries, it is being distributed by Reliance Big Pictures.

Shot in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Santa Fe, “Kites” is a love story about an Indian man and a Latin woman who fall in love without understanding each others’ languages. It is about their thrilling journey filled with precious moments and unexpected betrayal.

To cash in on the unprecedented buzz and hype, Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas, has big plans.

“We are looking at ‘Kites’ as a super duper hit. We are going to have 33 shows per day for the movie with the capacity of 8,600 seats per day and we expect a mass footfall because of its successful commercial banner and huge star cast like Hrithik and Barbara,” Awasthi said.

“3 Idiots” grossed about Rs.400 crore, making it Indian cinema’s highest earner.

“‘Kites’ will repeat the big bang theory in cinema. We are going to have on an average 15 shows per property and around three paid previews Thursday night. Hrithik and Barbara’s chemistry is going to scorch the screens,” said Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas.

Director Basu says with its international appeal, “Kites” will take Bollywood globally in the true sense.

Katrina Kaif Still Undecided About Home Production

Media reports hinted that Katrina Kaif will start work on her first production venture after the release of her political thriller “Raajneeti”, but her spokesperson says that the reports are not true.

“Katrina is just going over details and is in talks regarding her debut production but nothing has been finalized as of now,” says the actress’ spokesperson.

There were also reports that Katrina will play an army recruit in it.

“There is no truth to the news that Katrina will be playing an army recruit. It is too soon to talk about it as nothing as been finalised as of now,” said a source close to the actress.

“When the time comes an announcement will be made about her debut production project. As of now Katrina is just in talks and toying with ideas,” added the source.

Katrina Visits Ajmer Sharif to Pray for Success of Rajneeti

With her forthcoming film Rajneeti all set to release,Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif is keeping her fingers crossed for the film's success.And so what better than god's blessings to bring her wish true.Katrina on Friday visited the famous shrine of a Sufi saint,Khwaja Mouinuddin Chisty,Ajmer Sharif in Ajmer to seek blessings,ahead of her film's release.Draped in a white coloured traditional salwar-Kameez,the actress offered the religious Chaadar (Blanket) on the mausoleum of the Sufi saint and prayed for the success of her movie.

Was 'Raavan' Team Scared of Tamil Protests?

Reufting reports that 'Raavan' director Mani Ratnam and actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai skipped the IIFA event here because of the Tamil protests back home, Nikhil Dwivedi said on June 4 that this was just not true.

'Raavan' was supposed to be screened at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Colombo and the director not only cancelled the screening but also refused to attend it, citing work pressure.

"It's not true that Abhishek, Mani Ratnam and Aishwarya didn't come here because of the Tamil protests. Govindaji will be here. I'm already here, so I think it should put the rumours to rest that the 'Raavan' team is not here because of the protests," Nikhil said.

"We should take Mani Ratnam's word when he said that he is busy with post-production work. Any filmmaker will be madly immersed in his film just two weeks before its release. Other team members are also busy with some or the other things. That's the only reason behind their absence," he said.

Back home, Tamil groups were not in favour of IIFA going to Sri Lanka and asked everyone to either boycott it or change the venue. According to them, Sri Lanka needed to be shunned as its military had killed Tamils in large numbers last year in the war that led to the bloody decimation of the Tamil Tigers.

The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce announced a boycott of Colombo by southern actors and filmmakers and said it would boycott the Bollywood stars who went to Sri Lanka as well as their movies.

The 31-year-old Nikhil, who has worked in films like 'My Name is Anthony Gonsalves' and 'Khallbali - Fun Unlimited', will be seen as Abhishek's younger brother in 'Raavan', which is scheduled for a June 18 release.

"It was an absolutely marvelous experience. I got an opportunity to work with Mani Ratnam very early in my career and I feel I'm very fortunate," said Nikhil.

Talking about his co-stars, he said: "It was great shooting with Abhishek and Aishwarya. Abhishek made me very comfortable on the sets. I had a great time. I'm really looking forward to working with them again."

'Raavan', shot simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi, is said to be a modern day version of the Indian epic Ramayana.