Tollywood walked shoulder to shoulder on the red carpet with the best and brightest of Bollywood at the Zee Cine Awards (ZCA), which in its 16th edition introduced a separate category for regional films. Talent in Bengali, Marathi and Telugu cinema was acknowledged and awarded across three categories — Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress.

“This is a great time for the industry. So many Hindi films are being shot in Bengal and now Rajkahini is getting adapted in Hindi,” said Srijit Mukherji, the first to appear on the red carpet from Bengal. Team Tolly arrived in a big group — Subhashree, Payel Sarkar, Churni Ganguly, Saswata Chatterjee, Arindam Sil... — with Prosenjit in the lead. Bumbada, a nominee in the Best Actor category (for Lorai), said: “This is a great platform. Being here is what matters, not winning.”

Two minutes later, in walked Rituparna Sengupta, in a black number with golden embroidery. Was she aware that the theme of the evening was black and gold? “Not at all. This is a coincidence,” she laughed, “very excited” to be a part of the award and in the race for Best Actress for Rajkahini, being adapted in Hindi by Mahesh Bhatt. “It’s great that Vidya (Balan) is doing the role I did in Rajkahini and am delighted that they have named the Hindi adaptation after my character, Begum Jaan,” she smiled.

Rachana Banerjee, Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay  came later.

Subhashree was there not as a nominee but as a performer. “I have been invited to perform. They have seen my songs on YouTube and said that I was their first choice,” she giggled. Her seven-minute act was to be recorded in the studio the day after. “I am dancing to a medley of my hits, Mon majhi re, Latai, Bam chiki chikni chiki…”

Churni won Best Actress for Nirbashito. “No one in our group expected it!” she said, after getting the award from filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya. Prosenjit picked up the Best Actor trophy for Lorai, the Best Film award went to Bela Sheshe, and Rituparna gave away the award for Best Cinematography to another Bengali, Sudeep Chatterjee, for his stunning work in Bajirao Mastani.

After the award ceremony, Team Tolly let its hair down at a party hosted by Prosenjit.

THE NOMINATIONS

Best Film

♦ Bela Sheshe ♦ Open Tee Bioscope ♦ Babar Naam Gandhiji ♦ Ebar Shabor

Best Actor Female

♦ Churni Ganguly (Nirbashito) ♦ Swastika Mukherjee (Ebar Shabor) ♦ Rituparna Sengupta (Rajkahini) ♦ Paoli Dam (Natoker Moto) ♦ Basabdatta Chatterjee (Asha Jaoar Majhe)

Best Actor Male

♦ Prosenjit (Lorai) ♦ Abir Chatterjee (Har Har Byomkesh) ♦ Saswata Chatterjee (Ebar Shabor)
♦ Riddhi Sen (Open Tee Bioscope) ♦ Ritwik Chakraborty (Asha Jaoar Majhe)

Sudeshna Banerjee
(Watch the Tolly brigade in Bolly on Zee Bangla on Sunday, 1pm onwards)