The 17th edition of the V.Shantaram Awards for the best in Indian cinema, were presented at a glittering function at a suburban five-star hotel recently. The event was also a part of the felicitation to actress Sandhya who was a part of many Shantaram classics like ‘Navrang’, ‘Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje’, ‘Jal Bin Machli Nritya Bin Machli’, ‘Pinjara’, etc .

On this occasion, Sandhyaji requested the cine lovers to bless her children .
A special dance medley of Sandhyaji’s classic dance numbers from ‘Navrang’ were performed by choreographer Pony Verma and group, much to the delight of audience.

Mr. Kiran Shantaram said that the V.Shantaram awards were special, as out of 1000 films made in India in 2009, only a select few were nominated by the jury members.

The awards presented were for- Best Film-Kanjeevaram(Malayalam –Director-Priyadarshan), Best Actor-Prakash Raj(Wanted Fame)-Malayalam ‘Kanjeevaram’ –Dir-Priyadarshan, Best FemaleActor-Rani Mukherjee –(Dil Bole Hadippa), Best Supporting Actor-Female- Renuka Shahane( Rita), Best Music -Preetam (Love Aaj Kal), Best Cinem atography –Theeru(Kanjivaram), Best Editing Aarti Bajaj( Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), Best Sound Recording -Anuj Mathur(Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), Special Award in Direction Nandita Das(Firaaq ).

Celebrities who were spotted at the event were- Jeetendra, Randhir Kapoor,Yash and Pami Chopra , Vikas Desai, Basu Chatterjee, Jayshree.T, Imtiaz Ali, Dinesh Vijan, Upendra Limaye, Jagmohan Mundhra, Pandit Jasraj, Durga Jasraj,Sulochana, Ashok and Nivedita Saraf etc. Actor-VJ- Gaurav Kapur hosted the show in his witty comic way, while Rahul Shantaram proposed vote of thanks.