MUMBAI: The list is out! The awards instituted by producers' guild of India to celebrate excellence in TV and film industry announced its nominee list last evening.

The nominees' night for Apsara Film Producers' Guild of India Awards was held at Intercontinental the Grand, in Mumbai.

Television artiste Mohnish Behl and Paap fame model-turned actor Udita Goswami played the hosts for the evening. While Mohnish was impressive and fluent, Udita fumbled at regular intervals.

Amit Khanna in animated conversation with Yesteryears stars Jeetendra and Rakesh Roshan

The event took many by surprise, owing to the low turnout of the producer fraternity. Incidentally, the producers' turnout at the launch of the guild on 5 April 2004 at a suburban hotel in Mumbai was comparatively better than yesterday.

Well known producers like Ravi Chopra, Smita Thackeray, Gaurang Doshi, Ekta Kapoor, Aroona Irani, Mahesh Bhatt, Firoz Nadiadwala, Ram Gopal Varma, Farah Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Karan Johar, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and many more were conspicuous by their absence. At the same time, there were hardly any known faces from the television and film actors' fraternity, barring Amrish Puri.

Yash Johar and Subhash Ghai at the nominee party

The luminaries who marked their presence at the event were Ramanand Sagar, Ramesh Sippy, Yash Chopra, Rakesh Roshan, Jeetendra (who left very early and was unavailable when called on stage to announce a few nominations), Vashu Bhagnani, Ashok Thakeria, Prakash Jha, Manmohan Shetty, Ramesh Taurani, Kunal Dasgupta, Ronnie Screwvala, Akash Khurana, Shailesh Dave, Dheeraj Kumar, Prem Kishen, Govind Nihalani, Satish Kaushik, Ehsaan and Loy, Kailash and Aarti Surendranath, Amar Upadhyay, Sonu Nigam, Vidya Malwade, Anuradha Paudwal, Aadesh Shrivastav and Prahlad Kakkar amongst others.

Silk Route in the spotlight

The award winners will be chosen by votes cast by all the 160 members of the guild. Members including Aamir Khan, Shyam Benegal, Amitabh Bachchan, Ashutosh Gowarikar and Kamal Barjatiya, will participate in the voting process, say guild officials. All films and television programmes released between 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 will be eligible for the awards.

Neeraj Roy chatting up with Amit Khanna and Yash Chopra

Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Film Producers' Guild president Amit Khanna explained, "On Monday, 10 May, every member will receive the DVDs of the TV serials and films which have been nominated under different categories. He/she will have time till 24 May when the auditors would reach them with a ballot paper to cast their vote. Each member can cast one vote per category. After this, their votes will be sealed in front of them and taken too a common venue for the final counting."

A total of 36 categories, including 23 from cinema and 13 from television, both fiction and non-fiction, will be honoured at the grand finale. One of the contenders in each category will finally lay claim to the Apsara Trophy on 29 May when the finale has been scheduled.

While the film category did not throw up many surprises, the television category raised many eyebrows when Balaji Telefilms did not find a single nomination.

Here is the list of nominees announced:-

AWARDS FOR HINDI FILM

BEST SCREENPLAY

1. Prakash Jha (Gangajal)
2. Karan Johar (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Sachin Bhowmick/Honey Irani/Robin Bhatt/Rakesh Roshan (Koi Mil Gaya)
4. Abbas Tyrewala (Maqbool)
5. Vidhu Vinod Chopra/Rajkumar Hirani /Lajan Joseph (Munnabhai MBBS)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Ashok Mehta (Chalte Chalte)
2. Anil Mehta (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Sameer Arya/Ravi Chandran (Koi Mil Gaya)
4. Binod Pradhan (Munnabhai MBBS)
5. Santosh Thundiyil (Pinjar)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. Manish M, Neeta Lulla, Vikram P, Tilakha P (Baghban)
2. Manish Malhotra (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Laxman Mishra (Koi Mil Gaya)
4. Payal Saluja (Maqbool)
5. Muneesh Sappel (Pinjar)

BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

1. Abhijeet - Tauba (Chalte Chalte)
2. Sonu Nigam - Kal Ho Na Ho (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Udit Narayan - Idhar Chala (Koi Mil Gaya)
4. Adnan Sami - Ishq Hota Nahi (Joggers Park)
5. Kailash Kher - Allah Ke Bande (Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part 2)

BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

1. Sunidhi Chauhan - Bhaage Re Mann (Chameli)
2. Vasundhara Das - It's the time to Disco (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Chitra - Koi Mil Gaya (Koi Mil Gaya)
4. Anuradha Paudwal - Intezaar (Paap)
5. Alka Yagnik - Oodhni (Tere Naam)

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Preity Zinta (Armaan)
2. Juhi Chawla (Jhankar Beats)
3. Jaya Bachchan (Kal Ho Na Ho)
4. Sandali Sinha (Pinjar)
5. Pratima Kazmi (Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part 2)
6. Divya Dutta (Joggers' Park)

BEST LYRICS

1. Javed Akhtar - Kal Ho Na Ho (Kal Ho Na Ho)
2. Ibrahim Ashq - Koi Mil Gaya (Koi Mil Gaya)
3. Javed Akhtar - Seemayen Bulaye (LOC Kargil)
4. Gulzar - Maar Udari (Pinjar)
5. Sameer - Oodhni (Pinjar)

BEST ART DESIGN

1. Sharmista Roy - (Kal Ho Na Ho)
2. Sharmista Roy - (Koi Mil Gaya)
3. Jayant Deshmukh - (Maqbool)
4. Nitin Desai - (Munnabhai MBBS)
5. Muneesh Sappel - (Pinjar)

BEST MUSIC

1. Shankar - Ehsaan - Loy - (Kal Ho Na Ho)
2. Rajesh Roshan - (Koi Mil Gaya)
3. Jatin Lalit / Aadesh Srivastava (Chalte Chalte)
4. Uttam Singh (Pinjar)
5. Himesh Reshammiya (Tere Naam)

BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

1. Sunidhi Chauhan - Bhaage Re Mann (Chameli)
2. Vasundhara Das - It's the time to disco (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Chitra - Koi Mil Gaya (Koi Mil Gaya)
4. Anuradha Paudwal - Intezaar (Paap)
5. Alka Yagnik - Oodhni (Tere Naam)

BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

1. Abhijeet - Tauba (Chalte Chalte)
2. Sonu Nigan - Kal Ho Na Ho (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Udit Narayan - Idhar Chala (Koi Mil Gaya)
4. Adnan Sami - Ishq Hota Nahi (Joggers' Park)
5. Kailash Kher - Allah Ke Bande (Waisa Bhi Hota hai Part 2)

BEST EDITING

1. Murad Siddiqi (Ab Tak Chhappan)
2. Sanjay Shukla - (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Prakash Jha (Gangaajal)
4. Aarif Sheikh (Maqbool)
5. Rajkumar Hirani (Munnabhai MBBS)

BEST SOUND RECORDING

1. Vinod Subramanium, Dilip Subramanium (Ab Tak Chhappan)
2. Anuj Mathur - (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Dwarak Warrier (Bhoot)
4. Robert Taylor (Maqbool)
5. Jitendra Chaudhary (Koi… Mil Gaya)

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

1. Huzefa Lokhandwala (Bhoot)
2. Tata Elxsi - (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. EFX/Crest (Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon)
4. Prime Focus (LOC Kargil)
5. Bimmini Special FX Digital Art Media (Koi… Mil Gaya)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

1. Irfan Khan (Haasil)
2. Paresh Rawal (Hungama)
3. Saif Ali Khan (Kal Ho Na Ho)
4. Pankaj Kapoor (Maqbool)
5. Arshad Warsi (Munnabhai MBBS)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

1. Ajay Devgan (Gangajal)
2. Shah Rukh Khan (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Amitabh Bachchan (Khakee)
4. Hrithik Roshan (Koi Mil Gaya)
5. Sanjay Dutt (Munnabhai MBBS)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

1. Urmila Matondkar (Bhoot)
2. Perizaad Zorabian (Joggers Park)
3. Preity Zinta (Kal Ho Na Ho)
4. Urmila Matondkar (Pinjar)
5. Bhoomika Chawla (Tere Naam)

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Prakash Jha (Gangaajal)
2. Nikhil Advani (Kal Ho Na Ho)
3. Rakesh Roshan (Koi Mil Gaya)
4. Vishal Bharadwaj (Maqbool)
5. Rajkumar Hirani (Munnabhai MBBS)

BEST FILM

1. BR Films (Baghban)
2. Prakash Jha Productions (Gangaajal)
3. Dharma Productions (Kal Ho Na Ho)
4. Filmkraft Productions (I) Pvt Ltd (Koi Mil Gaya)
5. Vinod Chopra Production (Munnabhai MBBS)

AWARDS FOR TELEVISION

BEST ACTRESS IN TELEVISION SERIES

1. Niki Aneja Walia (Astitiva - Ek Prem Kahani, Ananda Films Pvt Ltd)
2. Sangeeta Ghosh (Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand, AK Films Pvt Ltd)
3. Mona Singh - Jasmeet Walia (Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, DJ's A Creative Unit)

BEST ACTRESS BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A TELEVISION SERIES

1. Office Office (Eagle Video Films)
2. Kittie Party (Siddhant Cinevision)
3. CID (Fireworks Production)
4. Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (DJ's A Creative Unit)

BEST ANIMATED SERIES

1. Tenali Rama (Crest Communication Ltd)
2. Jakers The Adventures of Piggley Winks (Crest Communications Ltd)
3. Honk Toot Swo Swoosh (UTV)

BEST FACTUAL / NON-FICTION

1. Big Story - Afghanistan (NDTV)
2. Jai Jawan (NDTV)
3. Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest (Derek O'Brien & Associates Pvt Ltd)

BEST NEWS ANCHOR

1. Rajdeep Sardesai / Barkha Dutt (NDTV)
2. Deepak Chaurasiya (DD)
3. Prabhu Chawla (Aaj Tak)

BEST DIRECTOR FOR TELEVISION SERIES

1. Ajai Sinha (Astitva - Ek Prem Kahani, Ananda Films Pvt Ltd)
2. BP Singh (CID, Fireworks Production)
3. Rohit Khanna (Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin)

BEST ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES

1. Pankaj Kapoor (Office Office, Eagle Video Films)
2. Manoj Joshi (Kehta Hai Dil, UTV)
3. Mohnish Behl (Devi, Television Footprints & Devgan Software)

BEST DRAMA SERIES

1. Astitva - Ek Prem Kahani (Ananda Films Pvt Ltd)
2. Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand (AK Films Pvt Ltd)
3. Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (DJ's A Creative Unit)

BEST COMEDY SERIES

1. Shararat (UTV)
2. Yes Boss (Shri Adhikari Brothers Entertainment)
3. Office Office (Eagle Video Films)

BEST TITLE SONG

1. Astitva - Ek Prem Kahani (Ananda Films Pvt Ltd)
2. Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand (AK Films Pvt Ltd)
3. Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (DJ's A Creative Unit)
4. Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (Zee Telefilms Ltd)

BEST MUSICAL SHOW

1. Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (Zee Telefilms Ltd)
2. Awaaz - Lata Special (Part 1&2 Etc)
3. Channel V Hotline (Channel V)