Asin at the Announcement of 55th Idea Filmfare awards

The 55th Idea Filmfare Awards will be presented on February 27th at the Yash Raj Studios in Mumbaiat a glittering ceremony, which will literally see the stars descend on the red carpet.

Announcing the event at a press conference on Wednesday, actor Asin confessed she had a special bond with the prestigious black lady (Filmfare Award trophy). ''I received my first encouragement, the Filmfare Award, for my first Telugu film; and last year, I received a similar applause for my first Hindi film (Ghajini) too. Naturally, the appreciation given to me by the Filmfare Awards is not only very valuable, it is very special too,'' she exclaims. She confessed she would have ''loved to be nominated this year too (for London Dreams) because I would love to win the prestigious Filmfare Award forever.''

But the awards alone didn't fill her with a sense of belonging. Asin traces her association with Filmfare to her student days in Cochin. ''We had this huge library in our house, where all the cupboards used to be locked, except the one with magazines and newspapers. I remember curling up in the library and spending long hours with my two favourite magazines, Filmfare and Reader's Digest.'' Of course, Filmfare was the bigger eyeball-grabber because ''of its glossy pictures and its glamour content'', she clarifies.

Commenting on the increasing popularity of the awards, Tarun Rai, CEO, Worldwide Media, pointed out that the award ceremony, which was viewed by nearly 30 million people worldwide would now be watched in much larger numbers because of the IDEA mobile handsets, which will offer content on the mobile platform for 58 million subscribers.

According to him, the black lady not only had a history of five decades behind her, she was also the most coveted award. ''Only the Oscars have a heritage and a longevity that compares with the Filmfare Awards, which have grown from five to 37 categories over the years,'' he says. According to Pradeep Shrivastava, chief marketing officer of IDEA Cellular, the idea behind the collaboration was to bring ''stars and the best of movies closer to the customers''.

This year will indeed be special with 111 films competing, including some of the best formula-bending films made in recent years. source: Times of India