(5 February 2009 3:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Zee Marathi, the Marathi general entertainment channel (GEC) under Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel), has announced the nominations for its flagship award show Zee Gaurav Puraskaar 2009.

This year, the channel is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the awards, which recognises and rewards the Marathi cinema and theatre industry. The awards was announced in a 'gala' event on 21 February.

The channel has roped in Vodafone as the title sponsor for the show. Last year, the awards were sponsored by Vaman Hari Pethe Jewelers.

For this year, the channel has examined 65 movies, 32 commercial plays and 13 experimental plays released between January-December 2008.

Among the films, Jogwa has got the maximum nominations with 12. This includes categories like Best Film, Best Direction, Best Lead (male and female ), Best Supporting actors (male and female), Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Choreography, Best Sound Recording and Best Screenplay.

Among commercial theatre, Gochee Premachi notched seven nominations while for experimental plays, White Lilli and Night Rider and Ek Rikami Baaju, received six nominations each.

Noted Marathi Director and film-jury member Bipin Nadkarni says, "We have seen a far greater competition this year with significant increment in the number of entries. And, these were from across the genres and issues."

"Though the commercial plays were less in number this year, the competition still remained tough," notes Vijay Kekare, the jury member for commercial theatre.