A scene from the ramp at the finale of AngloGold Ashanti Auditions 2005-06 at Hilton Towers in Mumbai; (below) judges Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Raveena Tandon, Sanjeev Agarwal and Shabana Azmi

What: Finale of AngloGold Ashanti Auditions 2005-06, a gold jewellery design competition.

Where: Hilton Towers in Mumbai.

When: March 24, 8.30 pm onwards.

The competition: The contest that drew 1,500 entries from the country over saw a grand finale at the glamour capital on Friday evening.

Forty designs chosen from the 1,500 entries were implemented by MP Jewellers, Calcutta, along with Emerald in Coimbatore. The ramp show saw these 40 pieces come alive in all their glittering glory.

The theme for the competition ? Ethno-Contemporary ? was interpreted by participants in their own creative ways. These were judged on the four-fold basis of visual impact, wearability, adherence to the theme and originality of design.

Twelve pieces were then carefully handpicked from the 40 designs by a star-studded jury. As actress Raveena Tandon, one of the judges, said: “We had to be very kind to all the participants, considering they come from such diverse walks of life? some are babus, some karigars, others are homemakers and the rest professionals or design students. That bit of compassion was surely called for.”

The judges: The panel of judges for the evening boasted actresses Shabana Azmi and Raveena Tandon, designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, jewellery book author Usha Bala Krishnan, managing director (Indian subcontinent) of World Gold Council Sanjeev Agarwal, managing director of D’damas and chairman and CEO of Gitanjali Group Mehul Choksi and executive officer of marketing, AngloGold Ashanti, Thero Setiloane.

The brand ambassador: “It is a real shame that women in our country spend so much money on gold, only to stash it away in cold lockers. A design can only be termed contemporary if a woman is able to team it with a white shirt and blue jeans. If it is only an occasion-based accessory then the entire purpose is defeated,” said Sabyasachi, brand ambassador for AngloGold Ashanti Auditions 2005-06.

“Jewellery and fashion are correlated and hence there’s no one better than Sabyasachi to act as our brand ambassador. Moreover, his design sensibilities are very close to our theme,” revealed Madhumita Dutta, senior brand manager of World Gold Council.

The show: The spotlight was on gold as the first sequence ? India Inspiration ? was unveiled. This depicted designs that drew inspiration from timeless, eternal Indian appeal. Black sequinned saris and little black dresses acted as strong contrasts to the glittering yellow metal. Designs were both chunky and delicate and took the form of traditional Indian pieces like maangtika, kamarbandh, key rings and the usual fare of earrings, bangles and necklaces.

The next sequence was titled Floral Fantasy and boasted strong influences of nature. Circular patterns, pretty petals and more made up this part of the show.

The third sequence, Art Form, drew inspiration from abstract and geometric shapes. Noticed on the ramp were some funky spheres, cool meshes and irregular edges.

The winners: The Audience Choice Award was bagged by Reema Gangwal who took home a gold jewellery set from D’damas. The third prize, 100 gm of gold, was won by Karishma Jain, whose design blended wood with white and yellow gold. The second prize, 250 gm of gold, was given to Raghunath Jana from Calcutta. His piece drew inspiration from the natural beauty of creepers. And Radhika Mahesh Jhalani was declared The Winner. The 19-year-old girl took home a kg of gold with “the combination of a fully-ripe golden Alphonso and the brilliance of the summer sun”.

E-chart: Hosted by VJ-turned-singer Raageshwari, looking ravishing in a sea-blue outfit, the glamour quotient of the show was upped by Shibani Kashyap who opened with her song Sajna aa bhi ja and then went on to Black velvet. Shibani and her band provided the background score for the catwalk.

Kailash Kher regaled the audience with numbers from his latest album and his trademark Allah ke bande.

Actress Shobhana left the guests breathless with her Bharatanatyam acts. She and her troupe performed to a western classical piece and had the crowd in splits with her contemporary interpretation of modern concepts like outsourcing, cricket and beauty pageants.

Voiceover: “It was only natural for us to get the competition to India. After all, it is the largest gold market in the world. Yes, we did expect a great response as far the volume and numbers go, but the originality of design has stumped us. The entries are reflective of India’s diversities and that is beautiful,” said Thero Setiloane from AngloGold Ashanti.