'3 Idiots' sweeps IIFA Awards

Kareena, Vidya share best actress honours

'3 Idiots' that created history by becoming one of the most successful films in Hindi cinema walked away with 11 trophies at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards that concluded in Colombo with a flourish early on June 6, being declared the Best Film, while the Best Director award went to Rajkumar Hirani and the Best Actress award to Kareena Kapoor for the same movie.

Kareena shared the award with Vidya Balan, who was honoured for perfectly portraying the role in 'Paa' of a single mother whose son is suffering from progeria.

Sanjay Dutt, Bollywood's affable Munnabhai, walked away with the Best Comic Actor trophy for his rib-tickling performance in 'All The Best', while Boman Irani received the Best Actor in A Negative Role honour for his brilliant portrayal of an eccentric professor in '3 Idiots'.

Sharman Joshi, who played Aamir Khan's friend in '3 Idiots', won the Best Supporting Actor award, while Divya Dutta received Best Supporting Actress honour for her performance in 'Delhi 6'.

In the special award category, well-known Hindi filmmaker J. Omprakash and Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan's maternal grandfather, who made films like 'Aap Ki Kasam' (1974) , 'Aasha' (1980) and 'Aas Paas' (1981), was honoured for his outstanding contribution to cinema.

Versatile actor Anil Kapoor, who made his mark in the international arena with British filmmaker Danny Boyle's multiple award winning rags-to-riches drama 'Slumdog Millionaire', was honoured for outstanding achievement by an Indian in international cinema. And yesteryears glamour girl Zeenat Aman was honoured for Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema.

While Bollywood heart throb Salman Khan was given the Habitat for Humanity award, his not-so-good friend Vivek Oberoi, who has been in the news for all the wrong reasongs ever since he arrived for the IIFA awards, was honoured with the Panasonic Global Green award.

Pritam Chakraborty won the Best Music Director Award for composing lilting numbers for 'Love Aaj Kal' and Swanand Kirkire bagged the Best Lyrics Award for the super-hit movie '3 Idiots'.

In the playback singing category, the Best Female Playback Singer award went to Kavita Seth for crooning 'Ik tara' in 'Wake Up Sid' and the Best Male Playback Singer Award went to Shaan for the hit number 'Behti hawa sa thaa wo' in '3 Idiots'.

Sri Lankan actress Jacqueline Fernandez, who made her Bollywood debut with 'Aladin', was declared Star Plus Debut of the Year (Female). Apart from Jacqueline, Mahi Gill, who played the modern age Paro in Anurag Kashap's new interpretation of 'Devdas' titled "Dev D", too bagged the Star Plus Debut of the Year (Female) award.

'3 Idiots' fame Omi Vadiya, who had people rolling in the aisles with his antics in the super-hit movie, received the Star Plus Debut of the Year (Male) award along with Jackie Bhagnani - the young actor who made his debut with the not-so-successful movie 'Kal Kissne Dekha'.

Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra received the Best Story Award for penning the interesting tale of '3 Idiots'.

'3 Idiots' baggged the maximum technical awards. The film won the Best Sound Recording Award for Nihar Ranjan Samal and Sachin K. Sanghvi. The Best Sound Re-recording went to Anup Dev, the Best Song Recording Award went to Sachin K. Sanghvi, the Best Background Score Award went to Sanjay Wandrekar, Atul Raninga and Shantanu Moitra, while C.K. Muraleedharan received the Best Cinematography Award for '3 Idiots'.

Bosco Caesar won the Best Choreography Award for directing popular dance moves in 'Love Aaj Kal', the Best Costume Design Awrard went to Anahita Shroff and Dolly Ahluwalia for the same film, which had Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles.

Sabu Cyril won the Best Art Direction Award and Charles Darby won Best Special Effects (Visual) Award for Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Aladin'.

For designing mindblowing action sequecnes in the crime thriller 'Kaminey', Shyam Kaushal was honoured with the Best Action Award and the Best Makeup Award went to the international make-up artists Christien Tinsley & Dominie Till for giving a progeria patient look to Amitabh in 'Paa'.

3 Idiots Box Office Collection - 3 Idiots creates Box Office History!

Amir Khan Starrer "3 Idiots" has smashed all previous records. The Week 1 [incl. Thursday previews] totals to an astonishing, earth-shattering Rs. 80 crores net. Reliance BIG Entertainment, distributor of the film, released about 2,000 prints across 40 countries. Has crossed the lifetime net collections of all films, except ‘Ghajini’ [Rs. 115 cr.] and ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ [Rs. 85 cr.].

Reliance Big Pictures which released ‘3 Idiot’s in 2126 screens worldwide including 366 screens overseas – the widest release for any Indian film so far – has reported unprecedented box-office response from all over. The film has set new records in ticket sales in towns and cities across the world. In just 4 days the film has grossed over an astounding Rs 100 crores worldwide. The film continues to draw record crowds and is setting new benchmarks for Bollywood films.

Inspired from Chetan Bhagat’s novel, ‘Five Point Someone’ the film chronicles the tale of three friends together in an engineering college. What seem to have touched the right chord in people’s heart is the witty writing and terrific acting and the incisive look which the film takes at the education system in India. The screenplay is impressively done, with the credits going to Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Shot on location the film has caught the audience’s imagination like never before, thanks to the cinematographer C.R. Muraleedharan. From a small town like Wardha to a city like Chandigarh, from Mumbai to Delhi and from New York to Sydney theatres have reported record-breaking collections. The film which has also been critically acclaimed has already begun attracting repeat audiences. Said a college student coming out of a suburban multiplex in Ahmedabad that she was coming back again tomorrow with her family to watch the film.

Commenting on the huge success of the film Producer Vinod Chopra said, “Response has been overwhelming from all over the world. Aamir, Raju and I knew from the responses earlier on that people liked the film but this is something else… We have got reports from places like Australia that they have reduced ‘Avatar’ shows and increased ours.”

“3 Idiots is the highest grossing Hindi film ever in Australia on its opening weekend. Similarly in the US, I have been given to understand that ‘3 Idiots’ would be highest ever for a Hindi film,” he added.

Film Information, an Indian trade journal that tracks box office performance commented “Bollywood should be dancing, singing, rejoicing, shedding tears of joy… 3 Idiots has come like a tornado to smash box-office records and create new ones which may not be broken easily, at least in the immediate future.”

'3 Idiots' breaks ‘Ghajini’ records

Film makes Rs.93 crore in opening weekend

Aamir Khan starrer comedy-drama "3 Idiots" created a record by earning around Rs.93 crore (Rs.930 million/$20 million) in its opening weekend. Reliance BIG Entertainment, which is the distributor of "3 Idiots", released the movie with about 2,000 prints across 40 countries.

Loosely based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller "Five Point Someone", the film has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Rajkumar Hirani.

"Response has been overwhelming from all over the world. Aamir, Raju and I knew from the responses earlier on that people liked the film but this is something else? We have got reports from places like Australia that they have reduced 'Avatar' shows and increased ours," said Chopra in a statement.

Released on Dec 25, its box office collection has beaten the initial earnings of another Aamir starrer "Ghajini", considered Hindi cinema's highest grosser till date, with 30 percent more earnings till Sunday night.

"'3 Idiots' is the highest grossing Hindi film ever in Australia on its opening weekend. Similarly in the US, I have been given to understand that '3 Idiots' would be highest ever for a Hindi film," he added.

The paid previews of the movie also garnered over Rs.9 crore worldwide, above those of the paid preview collections of "Ghajini" that was Rs.7 crore globally.

It also stars R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and Kareena Kapoor in pivotal roles.