The popular Zee Gaurav awards 2014, presented by Sunsilk, for Marathi films and Dramas were distributed yesterday late in the evening at MMRDA Grounds at Bandra Kurla Complex. Two renowned personalities are honoured every year during this yearly award function and this year’s beneficiaries were Mr. G. R. Kamat, well known screenplay writer of Marathi and Bollywood films, since 1948; and renowned Marathi actor Shrikant Moghe, who has completed 50 years of acting in Marathi films. While Mr. G. R .Kamat could not come personally, he was greeted at his residence by well known Marathi director Rajdutt. But, his wife Rekha Kamat received the award and citation on his behalf. Shrikant Moghe, had come from Pune to receive his award, in spite of losing his brother few days ago.

Known for his valuable contribution to Marathi and Hindi films, Mr. G. R. Kamat has written screenplay for many hit films like ‘Pedgaonche Shahane’, ‘Lakachi Goshta’ ( In Marathi) had also written the screenplay of ‘Bombai ka Babu’, ‘Kala Pani’,’Mera gaon Mera Desh’, ‘Mera Sayaa’, ‘Pukar’, ‘Do Raste’, ‘Do Chor’, ‘Main Tulsi tere Aangan Ki’, ‘Basera’, ‘Manchali’ ‘Kacche Dhage’ and others in Hindi. Mr. Shrikant Moghe, veteran Marathi actor who began his theatre with late P. L. Deshpande, was praised for his performances in hit Marathi plays ‘Varyavarchi Varaat’, ‘Lekure Udand Jhali’, ‘Garudjhep’, ‘Mritunjay’ , ‘Alexander’ and many Marathi films including ‘Prapanch’ ‘Daiva Janile kuni’, ‘Donhi Gharcha pahuna’ ‘Shevatcha Malusara’ ,’Aamhi Jato Aamchya Gava’ and others. Rekha kamat while receiving the award on behalf of her husband, thanked Zee Gaurav for remembering her husband’s valuable contribution. She said that it was a tribute to his Gurus and the audience who loved his films. Mr. Shrikant Moghe, dedicated this award to his dear brother Sudhir Moghe, who passed away few days ago.

Beginning the event an hour behind the schedule, the Sa Re Ga Ma participants of the Zee Marathi Music reality show, presented a welcome song and then began the awards presentation with technical awards section. Ankush Choudhary and Sai Tamhankar anchored the Zee Gaurav show for the first time, instead of the regular Zee Gaurav anchor Pushkar Shrotri, who was spotted in the audience section. This time, there were no political leaders, except for Abhijit Panse, who was nominated and won two awards, for his film ‘Rege’.

The very first parody presented by well known comedians from Marathi film and television was based on the current political scenario in the country; which was very well presented to generate spontaneous laughter among the audience. It was a well written script, which clearly highlighted the attitude of some of the politicians, always in news. Another batch of artistes performed a skit on few senior citizens gossiping about beautiful girls, at a garden. Umesh kamat and Priya kamat presented a dance based on love, while popular Bollywood singer Tochi Raina presented few songs in the company of group dancers. The huge set nicely decorated for the purpose, was only used well, by the dancers, who performed on Raina’s songs.

In the experimental Marathi plays section , ‘Lejhim Khelnari Pora’, ‘Price tag’, ‘Hijara’ and ‘Tu Aani Mee’ bagged 3, 2, 2 & 2 awards respectively, in different categories; while in professional plays category, ‘The Death of a Conqueror’, ‘Get Well Soon’ & ‘Mr Aani Mrs’ shared the honours; but in the best actor and best actress category Mohan Joshi and Reema Lagoo proved their supremacy. Mohan Joshi , who bagged this award for third consecutive year, declared that he should not be considered for nomination from next year onwards, as he was satisfied with the awards received by him so far.

In the Marathi Film’s section, there were many surprises; but ‘Duniyadari’ managed to bag 4 popular/ technical and two special awards. ‘Avatarachi Goshta’ bagged four awards, while ‘Rege’ bagged 3 popular/technical awards. ‘Fandry’ received 2 awards in the categories expected. But, ‘Astu’ bagged two awards i.e. Best actor – Dr. Mohan Agashe and Best actress Iravati Harshey, in popular categories, giving a surprise to everyone present there. The film was nominated in four sections. ‘Dr. Prakash Amte’ film received the most awaited film award, while ‘Duniyadari’ received the Special Popularity award. But, the best Marathi film award went to ‘Avatarachi Goshta’. ‘A Rainy day’ bagged two technical awards. Shalmali Kholgade received the special award in the ‘Marathi Paul Padate Pudhe’ Section, this year, for her progress in Bollywood.

Many prominent personalities from the Marathi television were present on the occasion, including the team of ‘Honar Sunn Mi Hya Gharchi’ and ‘Eka Lagnachi Teesari Goshta’. Dr.Jabbar Patel, Arun kakade, Kamlakar Sontakke, Rajdutt, Mahesh Kothare, Avadhoot Gupte, Kedar Shinde,Ravi Jadhav, Sanjay Jadhav were some of the prominent personalities noticed at the event. Among other popular artistes, Siddharth Jadhav Aadesh Bandekar, Arun Tikekar ( Babaji) Mrunal Kulkarni, Adinath,Urmila Kanetkar Kothare, Kranti Redkar, Meena Naik, Manasi Naik, Hemangi kavi Dhumal and the team members of popular detective serial ‘Asmita’ were also noticed. Ramesh Bhatkar, Vaibhav Mangale, Sanjay Mone, Sunil Tawde, Anand Ingale, Suhas Parajape, Kushal Badrike, Bhau kadam, Supriya Pathare, Hrishikesh Joshi, Sagar karande, Bharat ganeshpure, Priyadarshan Jadhav, Priya Marathe and many other stage artistes, were among the performers.