Report by Sanjana Chakraborty
“Can I have more red please? No…that’s too less. More red. Okay, that’s enough. Priyanka, you stop here, okay? No confusion. Alright, let’s go,” booms the model coordinator minutes before the Ritz Style Awards 2017 begins.
Models, sans make-up and fashionable attire, sashay down the ramp during their last practice session. While they are dressed casually, their movements on the ramp are a little restricted. “They’ll wear heavy gold and diamond-studded jewellery from NAC for the main ramp walk. They’re preparing themselves for that,” the model coordinator tells me. True to her word, the ramp walk, done thrice, is not simple, yet has an air of elegance.
Chairs are then arranged, the red carpet is set, and as car lights beam on stage – the Audi Ritz Style Awards 2017 opens with celebrities walking into the hall. Some pose, some air-kiss their friends, while others directly go to the open bar at the end of the hall – a place that soon gets crowded.
Compared to the IIFA and the Zee Awards, the Ritz Style Awards 2017 is a far cry. In a good way, though. There aren’t long speeches or forced jokes. Food is aplenty and, strangely, there isn’t an air of pretense either.
Guests who arrive on time have tons of pictures taken; the women in their designer gowns, and the men in suits. Sanjay Pinto, NDTV Hindu‘s editor is around with his posse. So is Aditi Mammen Gupta, the person behind Posh Nosh’s yummy caramel and chocolate sauces.
Keerthy Suresh is the first cinema celebrity to arrive, dressed in a gorgeous sequinned Anarkali suit, she briefly obliges photographers before heading inside the hall. Presented with the South Icon Award, she reminisces her journey with Ritz magazine: “Back when I was in college as a fashion student, I worked for a magazine as an assistant to a designer. He was working on a photo-shoot. That magazine is Ritz.”
While most of the event happens in English, Sivakarthikeyan’s speech is in Tamil. “I’ve been attending events for five years. And even now, I still have that fear when I come on stage to either speak, or receive an award. I got an award in 2014, and here I am getting one again,” he smiles. He wins South India’s Most Admired Celebrity Award.
Composer Anirudh Ravichander, dressed in a suit that doesn’t fail to stand out, wins the Musical Prodigy Award for his contribution to music in the south Indian film industry. Unlike the length of his pants, his speech is short and crisp. “It’s been five years now since I entered, and there’s no looking back. Each year, the Ritz Award gets classier. I hope the award show gets bigger so that in a few years, each of us get to go home with an Audi. Also, for the record, my mom does not have me on a leash,” he says to general laughter, adding that actor/host Gibran Osman is the man behind his suit.
Miss India Earth 2013 winner, and actress in Raman Raghav – Sobhita Dhulipala – is the fun celebrity around, flashing a ‘victory’ sign every time the photographers come close. Clad in a raw silk cotton saree, Sobhita wins the Most Promising Personality Award that evening. A similar award is won by a rather shy Catherine Tresa under the South Indian category.
The show-stopper for the evening is undoubtedly Aditi Rao Hydari, who has become quite the star ever since she joined Mani Ratnam’s Kaatru Veliyidai. Having won the Most Admired Celebrity Award in the female category, she is humble about it. Needless to say, her award is met with the loudest cheer from the audience.
*****