Things that happened of note:

From my new year aims, I'd say I'm doing more than 50%, but I could be doing more. I've read 1 book a month & stuck with the weekly word idea, so I'm reasonably happy with the way things are progressing especially with the film festival seasons coming up ahead ... :) ..but I do have that inner nagging that I could be doing 'more'.

I may do a separate post for the film releases of Q1 & what I saw/missed next week some time.

Silent Salutes
_ram-jaane'

Well .. I know a lot of people that read web comics. In fact in my drafted Links Page which I'll publish over the coming days, I have a section, specifically for webcomics. It's a quick and easy entertainment medium. I find that the followers, all fellow geeks like myself, will reference them in conversation quite often.

So, one such comic that I used to read back at university LittleGamers. Done by 2 guys in Sweden. They have my sense of humour & so it was a pleasure reading them. I lost track of them once University was done with, but reacquainted once I again found myself involuntarily spending a whole day in front of the computer in my full-time job, when one of my old friends sent me this link saying it reminded them of me.. (I won't explain, but they're right to think that.)

So in a nutshell these guys have been doing these comics for a long time now. So, when I read a little note a couple of weeks back about this convention in London that they'd be attending, I thought I'd pop along, pay my respects and whatnot. At this stage what did seem a little odd to me is that the event hadn't hit my radar. I mean people like me keep an eye out for stuff like this, especially in London, but it just felt odd that I'd found it through a page made in Sweden.

Once I went to the event I could see why. It was small, badly labeled directions to get there, generally I'd say the organisation was terrible.. but who cares, what I was there for was present & that's LittleGamers. I finally met Mr. Madsen whose work I'd been reading for many years. Mission Accomplished. I even took a picture with him ...

I had a look around at some of the other stalls but I gotta say I wasn't impressed. This is not at all a dig at the comic-stall holders, I'm sure a lot of good work was there, it just wasn't presented in a way where it could shine & for this I totally blame the event organisers. Firstly each stall needed more space, secondly they should have been given some sort of stands to display their art, thirdly they should get it advertised. If it was made larger they could probably get sponsors too.

If I was one of the artist & flew in from another country to this crap, I would not be impressed, but the impression I got from the comic artists present was that, they expected this to suck, to them it was more a social adventure, meeting fellow artistes & all that. A lot of the people knew each other from going to such events & this meant the after-event social environment at a pub round the corner was a lot more fun than the convention itself. I joined them & was made to feel welcome amongst many strangers. Overall, I returned pretty chuffed about having attended.

Though this will appear in my Links page when it's done ... I'd like to give a shout-out to these people that impressed me (in no particular order): AndersLovesMaria - Edible Dirt - Little Terrors - Gold Fish Bowl

If you have a webcomic that you think I'd like feel free to contact me & I may add it to my feeds .. ;)

Peace
_r.j'

One, Two, Three'

Plot Outline:
Diamonds worth ten crores are stolen from a dangerous Don. The diamonds accidentally fall in the hands of young love birds - Chandu (Upen Patel) and Chandni (Tanisha Mukherjee), who quickly hide them in a car. The Don and his idiotic henchmen are desperately hunting for the diamonds while hot headed police office Mayavati Chautala (Neetu Chandra) is on the prowl looking for offenders of any kind. Enter Laxmi Narayan ♯1 (Tusshar Kapoor). He's from a mafia family and his mother prays that with a few murders under his belt, he will be settled for life. After screwing up badly in his early attempts, he's got a final chance to redeem himself as a murderer. He comes to hotel Blue Diamond because he's taken a supari (contract killing) to bump off the Don.

Enter Laxmi Narayan ♯2 (Suniel Shetty). He's an MBA from Darjeeling and lives his professional life by sucking up to his boss, taking everything he is told as hard facts. He is sent to the Hotel Blue Diamond to collect a new car for his boss from Laila (Sameera Reddy). Then we have Laxmi Narayan ♯3 (Paresh Rawal), a hawker who has made so much money selling underwear on the footpath that he has set up a lingerie factory for his son. His son has sent him to the Hotel Blue Diamond to collect some lingerie samples from upcoming designer Jiya (Esha Deol).

Three Laxmi Narayans at the hotel waiting for messages at the hotel reception desk. The scene is set, let the mayhem begin ...

Marina

The Back Story
Going back to that book I read a while back (The Interpretation of Murder) and a that other book I've completed since but have yet to blargh (new name for blog).. both used the word in totally different scenes but this fit the given description. If this was the end of this story, it'd be pretty boring & so this is not the end.

I've mentioned a friend of mine that runs rowthree who goes by the name of Marina. Now by the given meaning this doesn't seem to fit, I mean as far as I know she's far from being Russell Crowes' tug-boat friend.

.. & so I looked further at the origins of this word. I found that in the late 1700's, it was the Italian and Spanish that made the word Marina to equate a feminine equivalent to Marino. Marino derived from the word 'marine' meant "belonging to the sea", which seems a much nicer name. I approve. Part of the approval comes from the meaning, the other part from the linguistic equivalence that these Spaniards & Italians have with the fellow Indians. We too have many dual words one for the feminine and one for the masculine - though the overall meanings be the same.

Right, on that note I'm off to the Italian diner. Man's gotta eat!

Orfanato, El' (Orphanage, The)

Plot Outline:
The Orphanage centers on a Laura (Belén Rueda) who purchases her beloved childhood orphanage with dreams of restoring and reopening the long abandoned facility as a place for disabled children.

Upon moving into the cavernous and hauntingly beautiful home, Laura, with her physician husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo), discover that the new environment awakens their adopted son (Roger Príncep) Simóns' imagination as he becomes acquainted with six imaginary friends.

However, Simón has always had imaginary friends, both Laura and Carlos play along with his stories, assuming this will be fixed automatically once other children arrive in his life, but the ongoing fantasy games he plays with these invisible friends quickly turn into something more disturbing, when Simón one day disappears.

Upon seeing her family increasingly threatened by the strange occurrences in the house, Laura looks to a group of parapsychologists & the police for help in unraveling the mystery that has taken over the place. Eventually, the desperate mother reluctantly agrees to explore the orphanage for supernatural clues to her son's disappearance.

Lars and the Real Girl'

Plot Outline:
Lars (Ryan Gosling) is an awkwardly shy young man in a small northern town where he is a popular fellow. After much concern from his brother (Paul Schneider) and his wife (Emily Mortimer) about his being a loner, he finally gives in. He purchases a sex doll online and proceeds to introduce her to his brother and sister-in-law as his girlfriend.

The problem is clear, she's not real - she's a sex doll, but sex is not what Lars has in mind, but rather a deep, meaningful relationship. He genuinely believes her to be quite real. His sister-in-law is worried for him, his brother thinks he's nuts, but despite the concerns of his friends and relatives, a local doctor (Patricia Clarkson) notes that since Lars otherwise has a highly functional personality that threatens no one, this delusion is a sign that he is working through some personal issues and his loved ones should play along in the meantime.

With some persuasion, the entire town eventually participates as well, with an uncanny growing enthusiasm for this unusual, but enjoyable activity, as Lars continues to pursue what he perceives as a deep and meaningful relationship with the doll.

Race'

Plot Outline:
Two brothers torn apart by love in this tale of intrigue, greed and revenge. Ranvir (Saif Ali Khan) and Rajiv (Akshaye Khanna) are half brothers who own a farm in South Africa. Breeding horses on their huge estate, these brothers are the most successful bookies in the horse racing circuit. Ranvir, the elder of the two, is a very shrewd and aggressive businessman while Rajiv on the other hand, is an alcoholic with little interest in the business.

Sophia (Katrina Kaif) is Ranvir's personal secretary and secretly in love with him. Ranvir is smitten however with glamorous model Shaina (Bipasha Basu) who he is good friends with. When he comes to learn that his younger brother wants her too, he swallows his feelings and lets him pursue her in hope that she can reform his alcoholism & so through a twist of fate, Shaina marries Rajiv.

The marriage faces instability due to Rajiv's ongoing alcoholism as he begins to suspect his brother and his wife of being involved in an illicit affair. A murder is committed. -- Intermission.

Flamboyant police detective, R.D. (Anil Kapoor) and his assistant, Mini (Sameera Reddy) are called upon to investigate the murder. As the investigation gathers momentum, a contract killing is issued, double crossings become the order of the day and betrayals are executed at the blink of an eye - such is the story of Race

Antonym

The Back Story
Probably pretty obvious how I came about this one. Anyway, dctionaries are used to obtain the meaning of a word, Thesauruses similarly to find words that equate, or mean almost the same thing. "What to use if you want to find the opposite of something?" I asked myself. Almost instantly I heard a vice. "Google" I snappishly answered back at myself & so I did it. I googled "find opposite of word". My head is growing again, at the thought of my kick-ass interweb usage skills.

I initially found the word that meant this was 'antonym' and googling some more I found this handy dictionary website that also gives you antonyms, as well as dictionary & thesaurus results all in 1 search (if they exist). Niice! I also then found Synonym.com & so as a by-product I also got to learn the word synonym which I though meant similar but is actually more specific, to words. It is mentioned that back in 1870, the word 'anotonym' was created to serve as opposite of 'synonym'. Random fact stored in RAM. Fantastic progress, my head gets even bigger, until I notice that, the place I started, dictionary.com / thesaurus.com, also has this feature as a part of it's thesaurus. Tsssssssssss .. *pop*

So, what's the antonym for "exceed" ?

On the morning after Sigmund Freud arrives in New York on his first - and only - visit to the United States, a stunning debutante is found bound and strangled in her penthouse apartment, high above Broadway. The following night, another beautiful heiress, Nora Acton, is discovered tied to a chandelier in her parents' home, viciously wounded and unable to speak or to recall her ordeal. Soon Freud and his American disciple, Stratham Younger, are enlisted to help Miss Acton recover her memory, and to piece together the killer's identity. It is a riddle that will test their skills to the limit and lead them on a journey into the darkest places of the city, and of the human mind. -- says the blurb!

Part 3 - Chapter 15
    'A billion people now live on this earth. A billion. And the number is growing geometrically. How are they to live Dr. Freud? What are they to eat? Millions flood our shores every year: the poorest, the least intelligent, the most prone to criminality. Our city is near anarchy because of them. Our jails are bursting. They breed like flies. And they steal from us. One cannot blame them; if a man is too poor to feed his children, he must steal. Yet you, Dr Freud, if I understand your ideas, seem concerned only with the evils of sexual repression. I would think a man of science ought to be more concerned with the dangers of sexual emancipation.' 'What do you propose, Charles, an end to immigration? asked Jelliffe.
    'Sterilisation,' replied Dana sanguinely, dabbing a napkin to his mouth.
    'The meanest farmer knows not to let his worst stock breed. Men are no more created equal than cattle. If cattle were allowed to breed freely, we should have very poor meat indeed. Every immigrant to this country without means should be sterilised.'
    'Not involuntarily, Charles, surely?' asked Mrs. Hyslop.
    'No one compels them to stay. How then can it be called involuntary? if they wish to reproduce, let them leave. What is involuntary is our being required to bear the charge of their unfit offspring, who ends up as beggars and thieves. I make an exception, of course, for those who can pass an intelligence test. Splendid soup, Jelliffe, a true turtle isn't it? Oh, I know, you will all say I am cruel and heartless. But I am only taking away their fertility. Dr Freud would take away something far more important.'
    'What is that?' asked Clara.
    'Their morality,' answered Dana, 'What sort of world would it be, Dr Freud, if your views became general? I can almost picture it. The lower orders come to scold "civilised morality." Gratification becomes god. All join in rejecting discipline and self-denial, without which life has no dignity. The mob will run riot; why should they not? And this mob, what will they want when the rules of civilisation are lifted? Do you think they will want only sex? They will want new rules. They will want to obey some new madman. They will want blood - your blood probably, Dr Freud, if history is any guide. They will want to prove themselves superior, as the lowest always do. And they will kill to prove it. I picture bloodletting, great bloodletting, on a scale never seen before. You would pipe away civilised morality - the only thing that keeps man's brutality in check What do you offer in exchange, Dr Freud? What will you put in its place?'
   'Only the truth' said Freud.

Vantage Point'

Plot Outline:
President Ashton (William Hurt) is attending a global war on terror summit in Spain. Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) are two of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect him. This is the first action that Agent Barnes has been in since he took a bullet for President Ashton six-month earlier. We really don't know if Agent Barnes is up to the challenge.

Shortly after President Ashton is escorted to the stage in the plaza by the Secret Service, he is immediately shot twice by a rifle from a window and falls to the floor. The crowd is in shock and chaos breaks out all over, especially, when bombs begin to explode.

Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) is an American in the crowd video-taping the event to show to his children that he was actually there at this historic event. He believes that he has the picture of the man who shot the President.

Once Agent Barnes sees the tape, he has a clue to that person. Several different people witness the event, and only through all of their eyes combined do we see the truth behind the whole assassination attempt.

Cottage, The'

Plot Outline:
Brothers David (Andy Serkis) and Peter (Reece Shearsmith) hole up at a secluded country cottage. Although barely on speaking terms, they have set aside their differences to make a lot of money fast, by kidnapping Tracey (Jennifer Ellison) the daughter of mob boss with the aid of her dim-wit brother Andrew (Steven O'Donnell).

With Daddy-dearest and his henchmen closing in on the hapless three, things quickly take a turn for the worse when Tracey outwits her captors and takes Peter as her hostage, escaping through the nearby woods to a remote farmhouse. As David and Andrew close in on her trail, they soon discover something far more terrifying is lurking in the darkness and the stage is set for a grotesquely comic battle for survival.

Bank Job, The'

Plot Outline:
In September 1971, thieves tunneled into the vault of a bank in London's Baker Street and looted safe deposit boxes of cash and jewelry worth over three million pounds. None of it was recovered. Nobody was ever arrested. The robbery made headlines for a few days and then disappeared - the result of a 'D' Notice, gagging the press. This film reveals what was hidden for the first time. The story involves murder, corruption and a sex scandal with links to the Royal Family - a story in which the thieves were the most innocent people involved.

This film hones in on Terry (Jason Statham), a small-time thief and car mechanic in debt to gangsters, about to lose both his knees with seemingly no way out. When an old flame and former model, Martine Love (Saffron Burrows), offers a proposition that could solve all his financial problems. He rounds up a team, each with specific tasks, making plans to burrow under a London store with high-speed drills to get under the vault.

Unknown to the gang members, there's an ulterior motive to the robbery, as MI5 has been given the responsibility of recovering the unsavory photos from one specific safe deposit box, pictures being used by radical activist to blackmail the British government into keeping away from him and his activities.

Feign

The Back Story
Okay, I'm kind-of ashamed of this one. I should have noticed earlier. For the past 2 or 3 years at least I've seen this word frequently enough staring right at me, to which I made an assumption. Dangerous.

In this particular context, it made sense, sort of. I thought feigned meant hidden. So going back to the staring me in the face part. I have a friend whose blog is called FeignedMischief -- Hidden Mischief, it makes sense in a roundabout kindof way, so it must be right, surely, stored in memory, or RAM if you will.

Now, in 2008 when I think to myself I should learn more words, I vow to double check these "assumptions" that I made. Conveniently, in my readings I come across this one where it just doesn't make sense under the context, so I double check it .. and here we are. Named & Shamed. Sorry Simone, for ever doubting your solemn nature. You must be a true thespian. ;)

Untraceable'

Plot Outline:
Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) is a widowed single parent living in a suburban Portland home with her young daughter. By night, she works in the FBI's cybercrime division with Griffin Dowd (Colin Hanks), fighting identity theft and similar such crimes.

One night, an anonymous tip leads them to a website called "killwithme.com". The site features a streaming video of a kitten starving to death. After the kitten's death, the murderer moves on to seemingly random human victims, with each death screened live online.

What is ingenious, is that audience participation is key on this killer's website, because the more hits his page gets the quicker he is to dispatch his victims. So, how does one catch such a killer who has covered their cyber-tracks with the web-savvy skills of a world-class hacker? Now, as the hunt becomes personal, Marsh vows to use every resource at her disposal in order to catch the killer before he logs on for another round of cyber slaughter.

Black & White'

Plot Outline:
Rajan Mathur (Anil Kapoor) is a Professor in Urdu literature in Dr. Zakir Hussain's College. He resides in Chandni Chowk with his activist wife, Roma Mathur (Shefali Shah). When the Professor Mathur comes across a young boy Numair Qazi (Anurag Sinha) seeking employment, he is introduced as a victim of the numerous communal riots in Gujarat. In actual fact, he is a suicide bomber commissioned by a Muslim fundamentalist group in Afghanistan to detonate a bomb near the Red Fort on 15th August (National Independence Day).

During this fifteen day roller coaster journey, Numair manages to take shelter in the Professor's house and wins the trust and fondness of the couple. While helping Numair to get employment, as well as an entry pass for 15th August celebrations at Red Fort, Professor Mathur introduces him to the warm and loving people of Chandni Chowk who co-exist with fun, music, love and colorful events and festivals irrespective of their religion.

Numair is astonished with some of the characters he meets here, but he must keep his mind focused on the mission as he struggles to carry out his orders from his superiors. Amidst all the tension, he is caught in an emotional dilemma whether to go ahead with his mission. Despite his deep-rooted fundamentalist beliefs, he begins to see this as one of the most colorful and loving areas he has been. There is hope. Not everything is as clear and 'black & white' as he had thought.

Other Boleyn Girl, The'

Plot Outline:
When rumors begin to circulate that King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) is no longer intimate with his wife who has been unable to give him a male heir, Sir Thomas Boleyn concocts a plan to bring his family back to prominence: his daughter Anne (Natalie Portman) shall seduce the King and provide him with a son.

However, the scheme goes off course when the King takes to the other Boleyn girl, Anne's younger sister and best friend Mary (Scarlett Johansson). Although married already, Mary gives in to family pressure and reluctantly provides the King with a boy, but along the way, she finds herself falling in love with the surprisingly tender monarch.

Of course, this love affair is no obstacle for Anne whose bitter envy and hunger for the throne now overpowers her sisterly love. She enacts a plan that eventually tears her family and her country apart while leading to her legendary demise.

6 Pages has become 14 Download and Read

3 pages has become 6. -- Posted on January 14, 2008 8:07 PM

As promised here's the first 3 pages. -- Posted on January 6, 2008 11:29 PM

Tremulous

The Back Story
If you are on my Facebook friend list, you may have noted that over the past months my status has been almost constantly prefixed with the statement "is twittering:", followed by my Twitter status (that I also have in the header of my blog pages). This is the annoying side-effect of having the official Twitter application automatically updating by Facebook Status. I've been looking at 3rd Party Applications like TwitterSynch too, but am not convinced yet to make the side-step to it.

Anyway, for those who aren't aware: Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via sms from phones, instant messaging, loggin into their website or numerous third-party applications. The name though caused a couple of messages & wall posts asking why I'm always twittering, to which I responded with the above explanation.

I decided then to look up if the word actually meant something like "sending small messages" and amongst other things, it does. It means..
1. to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird.
2. to talk lightly and rapidly, esp. of trivial matters; chatter.
3. to titter; giggle.
4. to tremble with excitement or the like; be in a flutter.

With the understanding of "tremulous", apart from the part about being scared and shaky, it does now make more sense of the word Twitter: "Shaky txt spk", okay so they were probably thinking "to talk lightly and rapidly", but I prefer it my way. :-P

So, hold up -- my response to why are you always Twittering could have been (based on No. 3 -- giggle) I'm just a happy camper, Rocking and-a Rollin'. Well damned, this opportunity lost shall be compensated for another time. (Many times). I'll see to it immediately.

The 'Best Film' nominations I agreed with pretty much as far as commercial flicks went. I would perhaps have replaced "Jab We Met" with something like "Namastey London", or perhaps, "Gandhi - My Father". I'd personally say "No Smoking" should have been up there too, but I sort of don't expect miracles like this quite yet. It'll be a film looked back at as a trend setter in time (I hope).

The Critics award going to Chak De is no real surprise at all, it nicely captured the Indian patriotic spirits, stood it's identity as 'different' while maintaining a level of commercial success behind it too. Best film then going to Taare Zameen Par isn't a bad thing, it was a break from the generic-fare film too, and so I still see this as progress for the industry, though I'm not sure these are entirely their reasons. I suppose they didn't want to give both best film awards to SRK-flicks. ;)

Aamir Khan walking away with Best Director after his first directional venture is inspiring. (His first production had got the Oscar Nomination in 2001, this is his second). I haven't seen the awards show yet but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he wasn't present to receive it. As you can tell just from my ranting, like any other award ceremony, not everything is approved by all. There is politics, there is favoritism -- we wouldn't really expect any less would we?

Generally I've always feel let down by the Best Actor Category -- i always felt to me they got it mixed up in their heads with Best Film. Going by this theory, I was just telling a friend that I was worried that SRK will get it for Om Shanti Om rather than Chak De and this would disappoint me. For once I'm chuffed that it went to who I thought most deserved it and for the right film.

Yea' I know, you all think I'm totally biased in saying this because it's Shah Rukh Khan but had I been blogging back in '98 you'd have known I wanted Ajay Devgan to win for Zakhm rather than SRK for Dil Se. (I didn't think Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which SRK did win it for, deserved it at all). I am fair & firm when it comes to these things. After all, if I'm going to go out there & fix the industry I have to be. The critics award went to the child artiste for Taare Zameen Par. Fair play about time a young one got an award -- but whether he maintains skill in acting or if he's a one-trick horse is yet to be seen.

The best actress nominations were spot on, but I definitely think Vidya Balan should have got it just for those scenes where she was possessed in Bhool Bhullaiya. The other roles were pretty so so. At second place I would have said Rani deserved it for Laaga Chunari Mein Daag where she cried so so well ;). Kareena winning it isn't a total disaster, she did do a good job, but I guess it goes to show that the name 'Kapoor' still has weight 50 years on.

Best Music was my most disappointing category. There were numerous soundtracks that outranked the nominations here. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have been robbed here. This came as a huge surprise to me when I saw the nominations. I mean, they had 6 solid soundtracks this year. Three of these making my top 5 most played soundtracks of the year (according to iTunes) and were definitely huge sellers world-wide. Salaam-e-Ishq, Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom and Taare Zameen Par. (The other 2 in my 5 being Om Shanti Om and Naqaab. Only one of them got nominated and didn't win. 'nuff said.)

Even with the playback singer nominations, these soundtracks were nowhere to be seen (with the exception of Om Shanti Om). At least with best Lyrics one of these awesome soundtracks finally got some credit.

Overall, the results were pretty predictable as usual. Flavours of the month/year *sighs* ... one year they might fix it, handing awards to the people that actually most deserve it, when world peace is achieved & there is no hunger or pain in the world. The day I get to be the King of the World ... Well, I'll stop at these main ones, there we have it - feel free to discuss :-)

So the prestigious Filmfare Awards (the Bollywood equivalent of the Oscars) have chosen:

I've bolded the ones I think most deserve it from the choices given.. I think there are definitely deserving entries missing here that I'll discuss further in a separate entry, sooner rather than later.

BEST FILM
Chak De! India --- Critics' Award Winner
Guru
Jab We Met
Om Shanti Om
Taare Zameen Par --- WINNER

BEST DIRECTOR
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par) --- WINNER
Anurag Basu (Life... In A Metro)
Farah Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Imtiaz Ali (Jab We Met)
Mani Ratnam (Guru)
Shimit Amin (Chak De! India)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (MALE)
Abhishek Bachchan (Guru)
Akshay Kumar (Namastey London)
Darsheel Safary (Taare Zameen Par)--- Critics' Award Winner
Shahrukh Khan (Chak De! India) --- WINNER
Shahrukh Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Shahid Kapoor (Jab We Met)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (FEMALE)
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Guru)
Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om)
Kareena Kapoor (Jab We Met) --- WINNER
Madhuri Dixit (Aaja Nachle)
Rani Mukerji (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Tabu (Cheeni Kum) --- Critics' Award Winner
Vidya Balan (Bhool Bhulaiyaa)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (MALE)
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anil Kapoor (Welcome)
Irrfan Khan (Life in a... Metro) --- WINNER
Mithun Chakraborty (Guru)
Shreyas Talpade (Om Shanti Om)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (FEMALE)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Life in a... Metro) --- WINNER
Konkona Sen Sharma (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Rani Mukerji (Saawariya)
Shilpa Shukla (Chak De! India)
Tisca Chopra (Taare Zameen Par)

BEST MUSIC
A R Rahman (Guru) --- WINNER
Monty Sharma (Saawariya)
Pritam (Jab We Met)
Pritam (Life in a... Metro)
Vishal-Shekhar (Om Shanti Om)

BEST LYRICS
Gulzar...Tere Bina (Guru)
Javed Akhtar...Main Agar Kahoon (Om Shanti Om)
Prasoon Joshi...Maa (Taare Zameen Par) --- WINNER
Sameer...Jab Se Tere Naina (Saawariya)
Vishal Dadlani...Aankhon Mein Teri (Om Shanti Om)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE)
A R Rahman ...Tere Bina (Guru)
K K...Aankhon Mein Teri (Om Shanti Om)
Shaan...Jab Se Tere Naina (Saawariya) --- WINNER
Sonu Nigam...Main Agar Kahoon (Om Shanti Om)
Sukhwinder Singh...Chak De (Chak De! India)

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE)
Alisha Chinai...It's Rocking (Kya Love Story Hai)
Shreya Ghoshal ...Barso Re (Guru) --- WINNER
Shreya Ghoshal ...Yeh Ishq Hai (Jab We Met)
Sunidhi Chauhan ...Sajanaji Vari Vari (Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.)
Sunidhi Chauhan ...Aaja Nachle (Aaja Nachle)