STAR, Sony are winners at Indian Telly Awards 2004

It was a night out for the small screen's big stars.

At the fourth Indian Telly Awards, presented by indiantelevision.com on Friday last in Mumbai, the big winners were STAR Plus, Balaji Telefilms and Sony Entertainment Television.

STAR Plus had the distinction of being feted the most that evening with its take-home list including trophies for the Best Entertainment Channel, Best Creative Director (Shailja Kejriwal) and Best CEO (Peter Mukherjea).

Its 11.00 pm show Kahin To Hoga emerged the single biggest winner of the evening with awards such as the Best Debutante (male and female), Best Tele Couple (Sujal and Kashish), Best Ensemble and Best Daily Serial going its way.

Rajeev Khandelwal, who plays 'Sujal' in Kahin To Hoga, bagged the Best TV Personality of the Year, while Shabbir Ahluwalia was declared the winner in the Best Negative Role category for his portrayal of 'Rishi' in Kahin To Hoga.

Rival Sony Entertainment Television had a few key moments in the limelight with its popular 9.30 pm show Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin walking away with the Best Programme of the Year; its lead actor Jasmeet Walia bagging the best actress award, while Rakshanda Khan, who plays 'Mallika' in the soap, walked away with the Best Supporting Actress award and Manini De, who plays 'Pari' in Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, was the winner of the Best Comic Actress award.

Balaji Telefilms was declared the best production house of the year, while its CEO Shobha Kapoor was the winner in the Best CEO (Production House) category and her daughter Ektaa Kapoor bagged the Best Creative Director (Production House) of the year award.

The Big Idea of the Year went to Extraaa Innings on MAX, while Ramanand Sagar was felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Sheeraj Hasan, who runs a popular show in the US called tinseltown.tv, received the Hall of Fame trophy.

ZEE TV got a special commendation for its popular show Astitva - Ek Prem Kahani, while Rajdeep Sardesai of NDTV was the News Anchor of the Year and Shekhar Suman was the anchor of the year for his stand-up show Carrry on Shekhar on SAB TV.

In all, trophies were given out in 94 categories at this year's awards in comparison to 69 of last year. These were across the trade, technical, programming, personality and channel sectors, said Anil Wanvari, founder of indiantelevision.com, on the occasion.

Highlighting the importance of the television industry, Wanvari said, "The TV business generates revenue in excess of Rs 12,000 crore as opposed to films whose turnover is Rs 5,000 crore."

The Indian Telly Awards will be telecast on Sony and not STAR Plus this year.

© 2004 agencyfaqs!