IANS

Sanjay Dutt was declared star of year for his performance in "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" while Aishwarya has bagged the honour for "Dhoom 2" at the MAX Stardust Awards here.

The glittering award function on Feb 18 was overshadowed by news of Saif Ali Khan's illness - he was rehearsing for his performance at the awards when he complained of chest pain and was rushed to hospital.

Saif won the 'best actor in a negative role' award for his awesome performance in "Omkara".

Director Rajkumar Hirani was honoured with the 'dream director' trophy for "Lage Raho Munna Bhai".

"Omkara" was declared the 'hottest film' and Sanjay Gadhvi 'hottest director' for making "Dhoom 2".

While Abhishek Bachchan got the 'best actor in a supporting role male' award for "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna", Ayesha Takia won the 'supporting role female' award for "Dor".

The 'editor's choice for the best performance of the year' went to Kareena Kapoor for "Omkara" and for 'best director' to Vishal Bharadwaj for the same film.

In the special awards section, Mithun Charaborty was declared 'role model of the year' and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's "Rang De Basanti" 'pride of the industry'.

Shiney Ahuja and Kangana Ranaut were awarded in the 'superstar of tomorrow' category for their impressive work in "Gangster - A Love Story".

Shaad Randhawa, who played Kangana's possessive boyfriend in "Woh Lamhe", got the 'new menace award'.

Kunal Kapoor and Gul Panag received 'breakthrough performance' awards for "Rang De Basanti" and "Dor".

In the music category, composer Mithoon bagged the 'standout performance by a music director' award for "Ek Pal" and Virag Mishra won 'standout performance by a lyricist' award for his song "Zinda hoon main" from "Zinda".

Though Saif's absence was felt, performances by Kareena, Lara Dutta, Imran Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut kept the audience entertained at the event attended by amongst others Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham.