(Top) Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif at the Zee Rishtey Awards; Sushant Rajput and Ankita Lokhande of Pavitra Rishta, which bagged the most awards

Why is Akshay Kumar hailed as Bollywood’s action king? The answer was on display at the MMRDA grounds where Zee TV hosted its 1th birthday celebrations, Zee Rishtey Awards, on December 4.

The Bolly hero was there to promote his film Tees Maar Khan. When it was time to exit, some cops appeared on the lookout for the “half Robin Hood”. Akshay took one huge leap from the stage, landed within handshaking distance of the front-row guests, in four swift strides caught hold of a rope hanging from a crane and with one foot in the stirrup at its end was swept up in one clean jerk to a height of 40 feet. There he stayed, suspended in mid-air without a harness, cutting an arc over the ground and waving at the crowd as the crane rotated. Suddenly he let go of the rope and jumped, from a height of about 20ft.

At the after-awards party, venue manager Raju Savla was still shaking his head in awe. “That ground’s circumference is 600m. It takes strong biceps to cling to a rope for four minutes. Without a net, without protective jacket!”

Perfectionist that he is, Akshay had made time, Savla revealed to t2, to rehearse the stunt for a full hour in the morning. “He did the routine thrice over, asking us all the while, ‘Bhaiya, theek ho raha hai, na?’”

It’s not for nothing that he gets to be called Khanon mein Khan, Tees Maar Khan.

Early start

From the morning, the units were rushing through their shooting schedules for the big birthday bash. “For us, it’s like a school’s annual day that child ren look forward to all year,” smiled Savita Prabhune, the veteran actress, after pack-up on the sets of Pavitra Rishta.

Piece of cake

At the grounds, the mood was festive. Familiar faces from Zee TV serials exchanged pleasantries while those scheduled to perform were revising their moves. Then word got around that the cake had arrived. First to rush in were little Dhairya and Afsha, of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’ Champ. The bubbly bespectacled duo could barely keep their hands off it, sending Divyanka Tripathi (of Dulhann), seated next to them, into a giggling fit. When the cake was cut — by then, almost all old and new members of the Zee family had reached, from Sudesh Berry (Loha Singh of Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo) to yesteryear cabaret queen Jayshree T. (in the new soap Dil Se Diya Vachan) — Afsha made sure she got the first piece.

Action time

Hosted by Manish Paul and Jay Bhanushali, the evening saw Zee stars dancing to Bollywood numbers. The most graceful was Shakti Mohan, winner of Dance India Dance 2, who swayed to Sheila ki jawaani. Many mistook her for Katrina Kaif, Tees Maar Khan’s Sheila, sending myriad mobiles into click mode! So much so that Katrina, who watched the act while awaiting her cue, complimented Shakti repeatedly when she came on stage resplendent in red.

In between acceptance speeches and laugh riots (like Farah Khan’s insistence on getting an award in exchange of a free appearance and a casting couch spoof), two men looked less than happy. One was Ayub Khan for being voted Favourite Bhai in Dil Se Diya Vachan. “I’ll take home the trophy for the hero next year,” he swore. Anu Kapoor, the original anchor of Sa Re Ga Ma, the butt of jokes all evening for being a chatterbox, left the stage quickly with his Amar Rishta trophy and had to be coaxed back to speak, only to deliver what was clearly a prepared speech.

Blasts from the past included the Hum Paanch, Amaanat and Tara teams. The most decorated show was Balaji Telefilms’s Pavitra Rishta, with seven awards.

Quote of the night: Taking home the Favourite Beti award, Jhansi ki Rani Kratika Sengar was overheard grumbling: “These days people yell at me on the streets ‘Jhansi, Jhansi’ karke, as if I am a bus going to Jhansi!”

See the celebration come alive on Zee TV on December 19, at 7pm.