Lights, camera - but can the acts, please

MUMBAI: As the sun went down on Saturday night, the stars drove through the glassy swathe of the Bandra-Kurla Complex to attend the annual ritual of the Manikchand Filmfare awards, which completed its 49th edition successfully — if a tad irreverently.
It was a smoggy night and a sparse sprinkling of stars peeped through the night sky.
On terra firma, I missed some familiar presences: Aishwarya''s green eyes, Kajol''s bubbliness, her husband''s glower, Anil''s radiant smile, Akshaye''s muscles - although the bicep department was well represented by Hrithik and Sunjay.
The institution of the Filmfare awards, whose statuettes are the mostvied-for badge of honour among the marquee tribe, is at a critical point in its lifespan.
It is staring middle age in the face. Will the fifties be furious or phlegmatic? And how will it retain its exclusiveness?
In the last few years, competitors have sprung up like so many wannabes and award nights are now as common as box-office flops. There''s almost one every Friday.
Of course, institutions, like wine, get better as they get older, and as Saif Ali Khan said when he picked up his award, Filmfare is special "because it''s the oldest and I''m traditional".
But while institutions may use age to advantage, the event itself has to be constantly reinvented to keep it alive.
In showbiz, surprise is the key. Award nights have to be rescued from turning into just another predictable outing, with the same acts, same faces and "thank you God, producer, director, dad and mom" speeches.
Kareina Kapoor pushed the envelope by showering thanks on big sister Karisma until Karisma returned the favour in true I, Proud To Be Kapoor style.
This year, the awards avoided the pitfall of ennui thanks to the generous squirt of irreverence injected by the two comperes, Shah Rukh and Saif.
The duo didn''t spare any of the holy cows, not Manikchand the sponsor who sells tobacco to millions, not Aamir Khan the perfectionist who was accused of taking 10 days to get the first line of Aati Kya Khandala right, not Saif himself, who, said Shah Rukh, had inherited his abba''s acting genes and his ammi''s cricketing ones.
Bole to, only Sunju Baba was left unscathed because the emcees feared that he would probably haddi todao them, Munnabhai style, necessitating the prompt services of an MBBS.