Natassha doing a Rani Babli Mukherjee on stage

It was time for the annual family induction into India?s most viewed channel ? STAR Plus. Pushed back by a couple of days, due to Sunil Dutt?s demise, the STAR Parivaar Awards held at the Bhavans College campus in Andheri on Friday evening saw the favourite faces of the small screen coming together for the yearly celebrations.

?It is our Oscars,? said Samir Nair, chief operating officer, STAR India. ?And it?s only about STAR Plus. While there were talks of having STAR One?s characters as part of the awards this year, it didn?t happen. They are not as traditional as the Plus people. Maybe next year.?

Voted by viewers through SMS, the awards had everything from red carpet arrivals to stunning performances to lengthy acceptance speeches. While Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 was formally launched, popular screen granny Ba (Sudha Shivpuri) was given a final adieu from Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi by her telly family members. Here are some glimpses of the awards night, to be shown on STAR Plus on June 4 at 8 pm.

Worthy winners

With Ektaa Kapoor?s K-factory sweeping most of the awards, Ajay Gehi, who plays Rahul in Miilee, said it the best: ?Is parivaar mein bahut ekta hai.? While Kyunki? again ruled the small screen picking up nine of the 27 awards, Kasauti Zindagi Kay (KZK), Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii (KGGK), Kahiin To Hoga (KTH) and Kumkum... Pyara Sa Bandhan raked in the trophies in many a category.

Unlike other award ceremonies, where the categories are all about actors and actresses, STAR Parivaar Awards focus on the characters and have categories like Favourite Pati, Favourite Saas and Favourite Jodi. ?That?s our uniqueness ? our characters are more popular than the actors and so the awards focus on them,? said Nair.

While the favourites, Hiten Tejwani (Kyunki??s Karan) and Ronit Bose Roy (KZK?s Rishabh Bajaj) triumphed in the Beta and Pita categories, veterans like Farida Jalal (Nani in Shararat) and Sushmita Mukherjee (Kkavyanjali?s Romilla) won in Favourite Nani and Favourite Hasya Kirdar categories. Ektaa-regular Natassha became the Favourite Naya Sadasya for her role of Anjali in Kkavyanjali edging past Mona Vasu?s Miilee, who ended up bagging the Yogya Jodi award with Ajay?s Rahul for the Raman Kumar serial.

Kyunki?s Ansh (played by Akashdeep), who has been long dead in the serial, won the Favourite Khalnayak prize, while Shabbir Ahluwalia and Poonam Joshi, who play Rishi and Mahek in KTH, won the Favourite Bhai and Behen awards. The Devrani, Jethani, Nanad and Saut awards went to Kyunki?s Ganga (Shilpa Saklani), Damini (Reva Bubber), Shobha (Ritu Choudhury) and Tanya (Rakshanda Khan). Kumkum was a hot favourite too, with the Favourite Nana award going to Arun Bali?s Harshwardhan Wadhwa and Favourite Bhabhi award to Juhi Parmar?s Kumkum.

Hiten Tejwani and Gauri Pradhan, who play Karan and Nandini in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, arrive for the awards. (Left) So does Aamna Sharif who plays the popular Kashish in Kahiin To Hoga

Cool cameos

While the STAR Parivaar theme song, composed by Pritam and sung by the likes of Abhijeet and K.K., played all evening, when it came to the items on stage, it was all Bollywood. The Kumkum pair Hussain and Juhi Parmar danced to the three Kaal numbers ? Tauba tauba, Nasa nasa and Kaal dhamaal.

Shabbir Ahluwalia and Reva Bubber brought the show alive with their rocking performance to the Main Hoon Na qawwali track Tumse milke. Eijaz Khan and Natassha, the Kkavyanjali duo, did a Bunty Aur Babli as they danced to Dhadak dhadak and Nach Balliye.

While Nair formally unveiled KBC2, Peter Mukerjea spoke on the STAR dominance of the airwaves. Even the STAR music album, having the theme songs of all the serials and, of course, the Parivaar track, was launched by actors Mrinal Kulkarni and Rohit Bakshi.

Quotable Quotes

While every winner had a long thank you list, some of the acknowledgements did stand out. Ronit, who has supposedly been thrown out of both KZK and Kyunki?, announced to Ektaa publicly: ?Whatever happens tomorrow, my family and I will be obligated to you forever.?

Sushmita Mukherjee went Bengali: ?My mother?s not well in Delhi. Ma tumi bhalo hoye jao. Eta tomar jonnye.? While Ritu Choudhary couldn?t be present and thanked everyone over the phone, Farida Jalal was all emotions: ?My character of Nani in Shararat is inspired by my own nani. So I consider this award as her blessing.?

While everyone bade farewell to Sudha Shivpuri, Kyunki?s Ba, her real-life daughter, actress Ritu Shivpuri said: ?My mother?s a complete goddess. In the serial she is just five per cent as good as she is in real life.?

But the most inspiring words came from Mukerjea himself: ?As many as 45 of the 50 most-watched shows on Indian small screen are from STAR and yes, we have the finest television talents anywhere in the world.?