By Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade News Network

G.I.F.A. Awards 2006 have been declared and the reaction amongst the industry insiders and film lovers is unanimous that it has been one of the most fair award functions ever.

Traditionally it has been observed that one or two biggies are the chosen ones for majority of awards while a couple of other films are kept 'happy' by giving them the critics’ awards. So what happens to smaller or not so popular films? Well, they are not really considered worthy for the awards even if they do have a credential or two in their favor.

Hence it comes as a pleasant surprise to see even films like 'Corporate', 'Golmaal', 'Fight Club' and '36 China Town' getting recognition at an international level. On the other hand biggies like 'Rang De Basanti', 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', 'Krrish' and others share number of awards amongst themselves!

Let's begin with the underdogs first. Who would have imagined that a film like 'Fight Club' would be even noticed; let aside winning an award? But the film has done exactly that as Vikram Chopra gets an award for the best directorial debut for the film. A reasonably decent film with solid action as its highlight, it certainly deserved a better fate at the box office and Chopra getting an award would certainly be a solace for the makers of this multistarrer.

Ditto for Tusshar Kapoor who has been an underdog hero since the time he made his debut years ago in 'Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai'. After playing second and third leads in number of flicks, he has his moment of pride for 'Golmaal' where he was a third lead again (after Ajay Devgan and Arshad Warsi) but eventually walked away with the sole heroine (Rimmi Sen) and now the trophy for the 'Best Actor in a Comic Role'.

Coming to technical awards, it was the year of number of films with great technical finesses, especially in the way they had been shot. 'Rang De Basanti', 'Krrish', 'Fanaa' etc. are some of the biggies that come in mind. Hence it comes as a pleasant surprise to see Tassaduq Hussain get the award for 'Best Cinematography' in 'Omkara'. Truly deserving! That's because after 'Sholay' and to a good extent 'Bandit Queen', 'Omkara' was the film that had the rugged terrain of interiors in Inia appear so menacing!

Equally menacing was Saif Ali Khan in the same film and hence if there is one single award in the entire event that wouldn't raise a single protest, it has to be for 'Best Actor in A Villainous Role'. Langda Tyagi may not have the physical prowess of a Gabbar but when it came to a scheming mind, he would win hands down. Now if only he wouldn't have been killed in the end, Vishal Bhardwaj may already have had a queue of producers outside his house to make a film titled 'Omkara and The Return of Langda Tyagi'!

When it comes to 'returns', sequels had a particularly good year for Bollywood. And 'Krrish' was the biggest success so far (before D2 stole the show during last fortnight) and dividend came in the form of 3 awards - Best Actor [Hrithik Roshan], Best Sound Design [Jitendra Choudhary, Nakul Kamte] and Best Action [Tony-Sui-Ching, Shyam Kaushal]. Though everyone would agree with Best Action and to an extent Best Sound Design too, there is a little surprise to see Hrithik get an award for the Best Actor.

Agreed that Hrithik was good, in fact quite good as Krrish, but weren't there any better performances in the year gone by? Aamir (Rang De Basanti) & Sanjay Dutt (Lage Raho Munnabhai) - how about them? Thankfully there won't be many disagreements for Bipasha Basu winning the 'Best Actress' award for 'Corporate' and Abhishek Bachchan stepping on the red carpet for his 'Best Actor in A Supporting Role' in KANK!

Nevertheless 'Rang De Basanti' won't really have any complaints whatsoever since it lead the show with as many as 8 awards. Good to see Soha Ali Khan finally getting some recognition for her act as a 'Best Actress in A Supporting Role'. And yes, when it came to Best Editing [P.S. Bharathi] and Best Art Direction [Samir Chanda], the awards did come as a shot in the arm.

'Rang De Basanti' also got awards for Best Director [Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra] and Best Screenplay [Renzil D’Silva, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra]? Well, that was a given and hence comes hardly as a surprise! When it came to music, the film swept the show with awards for 'Best Music' & 'Best Background score' [A.R.Rahman] and Best Lyrics [Prasoon Joshi (Roobaroo - Rang De Basanti)]. Deserving for sure!

Also deserving were young Zubin and not-so-young Alka Yagnik getting recognized for their songs 'Ya Ali' [Gangster] and 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' [Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna]. But can one say the same for Upen Patel getting an award as a 'Best Debutant Actor' for '36 China Town'? Probably it was the case of not much competition from any other debutant! Though the same can't be claimed for Kangana Ranaut because competition or no competition, her act in 'Gangster' was truly award worthy!

'Lage Raho Munnabhai' may have got only 3 awards but headed the show with the award that matters most - Best Film [Vidhu Vinod Chopra]. On the writing front, the film was an undisputed leader and it showed when Raj Kumar Hirani & Vidhu Vinod Chopra got the award for 'Best Story' while Abhijat Jolshi & Rajkumar Hirani were unanimous choices for 'Best Dialogues'.

On the other hand Roshan family had one more reason to cheer with Rakesh Roshan getting an award for 'Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema'. Well, the man is indeed taking risks for last half a decade and 'Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai', 'Koi Mil Gaya' and 'Krrish' are good enough examples of that!

A new award for the most searched actor and actress on Internet was devised by GIFA awards. And guess who won it? Shahrukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra! So what if SRK lost it to Hrithik Roshan in the best actor category (though Aamir and Sanjay were anyways front runners), he has one in his shelf now due to the new award category!

Well, an award function can never be complete without SRK getting one for him. Isn't that so?