yesterday once more: Vidhu Vinod Chopra hugs Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Pictures by Pratim D. GuptaYou?re the man: Ashutosh Gowariker chats with Vijaypat SinghaniaMum?s the word: Ishita with mother Ila Aruntwo of a kind: Mona Singh with Jassi co-star Gaurav Gerafamily ties: Sridevi Kapoor enters; (left below) Anil Kapoor makes a point

The separate entry ? from the rear of the hotel ? to the Taj Lands End poolside promised something out of the ordinary. When the golden logo of the trophy was embossed on the hand, there wasn?t a doubt left that the nominees? brunch for the second edition of the Reliance Mobile Apsara Awards would be one grand spectacle. The long entry stretch was punctuated with placards announcing the nominations of the different film and TV categories as acknowledged by the organisers ? The Film and Television Producers Guild of India.

?This brunch for an awards function is the first of a kind in India,? revealed Amit Khanna, president of the Guild and chairman of Reliance Entertainment. The destination was, of course, the expansive poolside where everything and everyone from Bloody Mary to DJ Suketu awaited the invitees.

The Parineeta team was one of the first to turn up. And why not? With 14 nominations, the Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay screen adaptation is the favourite to sweep the awards, to be held on January 21 at the NCPA Grounds, Mumbai. Director Pradeep Sarkar, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, music director Shantanu Moitra, lyricist Swanand Kirkire, cinematographer Natararajan, dialogue writer Rekha Nigam, sound designer Bishwadeep Chatterjee ? the Parineeta crew was there in full force.

?Kota nomination peyechhe re? Egarota na choddota?? Dada (Sarkar) was his usual casual self as he sipped his drink. Chopra chipped in: ?We don?t make films to win awards but it does feel good to be recognised by the film producers? body.? His own directorial venture Eklavya, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan among others, is at a very late stage of post-production with Moitra working on the background score.

They may have been early but the Parineeta crew was quick to leave, too. ?We have to rush since most of us are working on a commercial with Juhi Chawla today,? revealed Dada. Before leaving, he had a hearty chat with cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran who has a twin nomination for Black and Paheli.

From movie stalwarts and television honchos to music men and ad people, big names were spotted swirling their drinks and picking on the finger food. Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Sameer Nair, Kunal Dasgupta, Anu Malik, Piyush Pandey? the Taj poolside was turning out into a noisy hub of shared ideas and exchanged notes. Some good ol? faces like Naveen Nischol, Prem Chopra, Varsha Usgaonkar, Ila Arun, Kabir Bedi were also spotted. Ila?s daughter Ishita added to the glamour quotient for the afternoon which was otherwise left to host Rakshanda Khan.

The first of the performances of the day came from Indian Idol runners-up Amit Sana, who belted out numbers like Channa vey and Woh Kisna hai. Indian Idol is one of the nominations in the Best Musical Show category that also features big guns like Nach Baliye, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge and Fame Gurukul.

High-flier Vijaypat Singhania was one of those rare non-filmi people who got a grand welcome to this mother of all brunches that promised a one-of-a-kind culinary trip covering different parts of the globe. So, besides Appam and Mutton Stew, one could gorge on live Pasta, then nibble on some Grilled Bekti and then chew on Chocolate Mud Cake.

Singhania, who recently broke another aviation record, wasn?t too happy, though, when a much-moustachioed adman flung his arm around his shoulder for a picture. He did speak at length with director Ashutosh Gowariker, who was very curious about his record-breaking flights. You never know with Ashu, it can just turn out to be his next big movie idea. For now, though, he is ?working very hard on the pre-production of Jodha Akbar? and will start the Hrithik-Aishwarya-starrer ?in six months?.

Enter, the star of the day. No, he?s no Shah Rukh, none of the Bachchans, not even a Rani Mukherjee. The reticent Sanjay Leela Bhansali, with the do-not-disturb tag right in place, made an entry that would only match up to the drama he dwelled on in Black. His totally unexpected turn-up can be attributed to the 11 nominations that his Amitabh-Rani starrer has bagged at the Apsaras.

His brief stay had two chapters. First, a rendezvous with Nasreen Munni Kabeer, the London-based writer-film-maker who?s captured the inner and outer worlds of SRK recently. Her latest is a book of letters that Guru Dutt wrote to wife Geeta Dutt. ?It?s quite awkward to read someone else?s personal letters,? Bhansali said with a smile, even as he flipped through the hardbound book.

But the real drama happened when Bhansali and Vidhu Vinod Chopra hugged and shared a joke or two. Bhansali is originally from the Chopra camp having directed some of the songs ? including Kuch na kaho ? for 1942 ? A Love Story but the two are not known to share a great rapport since Devdas became big and Mission Kashmir sank. On Sunday, though, the two seemed back to their old days, or was there more to what met the eye?

Finally, an actor nominee turned up in Anil Kapoor who?s battling for the Best Actor trophy with Shah Rukh (Paheli), Saif (Parineeta), Amitabh (Black) and Akshay (Waqt) for his comic turn in No Entry. ?I am here not just as an actor but in the capacity of a producer (My Wife?s Murder),? said Anil, dressed in a shirt that had colours and motifs in a no-holds-barred razzmatazz.

Seen at all the right places with all the right people was Nagesh Kukunoor, whose Iqbal is up for Best Film alongside Black, Parineeta, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Page 3. He has been announcing his new project ?in a couple of weeks? for the last couple of months now and he hasn?t changed the routine ? ?The thing is that the film I was planning didn?t work out at the last moment. So, now I am onto something else, with Subhashji only.?

The TV stars were fashionably late. Ronit Roy, Mona Singh, Varun and Rajeshwari, Apoorva Agnihotri and Shilpa Saklani, Nikki Aneja... By then Super Singer Ravindra Upadhyay had taken the stage from the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa finalists and leaving his console, Suketu was busy grabbing a bite from a friend?s plate.