“Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” sweeps awards at 'Bollywood Oscars'

E-Paper | March 18, 2026

The movie traces a soul searching bachelor trip to Spain by three inseparable friends played by heart-throbs Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar. – File Photo

SINGAPORE: Director Zoya Akhtar's road trip drama “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” swept the top honours, including best picture and best director, at the “Bollywood Oscars” held late Saturday in Singapore.

The movie, which loosely translates to “You Won't Get A Second Life”, scooped up nine awards including best supporting actor for the director's brother Farhan Akhtar and best story at the annual ceremony.

“This evening is turning out to be more fabulous than expected... I thank my crew and I beg them to do my next film,” a jubilant Zoya Akhtar said in her acceptance speech.

The movie traces a soul searching bachelor trip to Spain by three inseparable friends played by heart-throbs Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar.

It was seen as a strong contender at the 13th International Indian Film Academy awards, which was taking place for the second time in Singapore, and did not disappoint.

Elsewhere, Vidya Balan won best actress for her role in “The Dirty Picture”, a loosely based biopic about the tumultuous life of South Indian sex siren “Silk Smitha”.

Ranbir Kapoor, the latest member of the legendary Kapoor clan to enter the Bollywood fold, won best actor for his role as an aspiring professional musician in the pulsating romantic drama “Rockstar.”

Indian music maestro and Oscar award winner A.R. Rahman won the nod for best music direction in the same movie.

Some 10,000 fans were at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to watch the four-hour ceremony which included high-octane song and dance performances, organisers said.

Another 800 million were estimated to have watched the TV broadcast of the awards ceremony, they added.

A three-day festival leading up to the night saw the world premiere of political thriller “Shanghai,” a glitzy fashion show and film workshops for Bollywood fans in Singapore.

The city-state last played host to the event in 2004.

First launched at the Millennium Dome in London, the awards have been held in 12 cities around the world including Colombo, Macau, Bangkok, Dubai, Amsterdam and Johannesburg.

It is held outside India every year in an effort to increase the international profile of the popular Hindi-language film industry and win new audiences abroad.

Entertainment

Concerned Netizen

Jun 11, 2012 05:51pm

You have to dig deep to find out that the real life based movies are also made in Hindi language film industry Bollywood. Apart from having singing and dancing(which is unique to all film industries in India), it also churns out classy movies. You have to understand that cinema is for entertainment. Bollywood does not have an agenda of "misleading" people of India. It is only for entertainment for the masses. If you want to see only reality in cinema then either you should pick a handful of movies from Bollywood or simply look towards parallel cinema and not commercial cinema. Do you really think most of the Hollywood movies show reality? Its a form of entertainment best understood by Indian public.

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Vijay kumar

Jun 25, 2012 06:51pm

one of the best movies i have ever seen about friend ship

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Sunil

Jun 11, 2012 04:31pm

Saif As it is people are suffering and their only reprieve is to dream gateway and that's movie. If they see the same suffering in the movies then they have nothing else to look for. At least for 3 hours they live that bogus life. That's why most real life movies have failed in India. That's entertainment. The real life movies will become torture to those, majority of the people who are trying to escape from their misery. That’s the very reason why movies like Slumdog Millionaire didn’t do well at box office in India.

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KDP

Jun 11, 2012 01:46pm

Making movies is a business to earn money and increase wealth. Very few movies Bollywood makes are based on the social issues or struggle of common men and women which may require shooting in India. They make a product that a mass of people like to entertain themselves with. They see poverty and misery all around them so whats the point of showing the same in movies? Bollywood does not deceive there is no deception they do not tell people that it is Delhi when hero runs around heroin in beautiful Switzerland. By the way Kashmere was their choice of venue before and for obvious resaons it is not now a big economical loss for local people.

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Saifullah Shaikh

Jun 11, 2012 02:35am

I always wonder Why Indians(Bollywood) donot like their native land/grounds/dresses and their native language and phrases!? Significant no:of bollywood movies reflect western culture/style and English sentences as a way of communication and dialogues? Even many of boolywood movies are filmed in western countries which clearly indicate that their directors never support and value their own traditions but also decieve general public with this so called "dreamy land of bollywood"!Overall their stories donot reflect any scientific devolpments in their society but simply a repeat of BOGUS ROMANCE and Dances which has nothing to do with real life in India thus misleading poor people of India in many ways. Saifullah Shaikh, Alabama USA.

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Chintu

Jun 12, 2012 12:19am

Its all about glamor and entertainment. Not all movies that are westernized. A fraction of people might get carried away and misled.. but most of them know they are in there for "Entertainment Entertainment Entertainment" There is a section of movies dedicated to Art, but thmost are commercial films..hope it helps to solve your misconception.

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J. Narula

Jun 12, 2012 12:02am

Most movies are made for the Non Resident Indians. Who want western themes done by brown actprs. The resident Indians have to like what Bollywood dishes out, which for 90% of the time is Zilch.

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Asif Iqbal Toronto

Jun 11, 2012 06:56pm

Mr Saifullah: India produces more than 800 movies a year, only 5% of the movies which are very big budget movies are shot outside india, unfortunatly you only watch those 5% big budget movies, not your fault ! Indian film industry is very diverse & is ruled by Pathans(Khans) & kapoors. whereas 80% of the audience is Hindu's, not only in Bollywood, if you see our prime minister is a Sikh, Our Vice president is a Muslim, our Army chief is a Sikh ! This is Power of India.

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malik A

Jun 11, 2012 05:34pm

Have'nt seen an Indian movie in almost 30 years....Quite at peace for all these years.

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whats in the name

Jun 11, 2012 05:24pm

@Saifullah Shaikh: I call this a classical case of sour grapes. Why shoot in foreign locales? Yes there are many people in India who cannot afford to travel abroad due to their economic limitations. Doesn't mean he should not get to know more about the foreign locales. Yes an average man can watch plenty of it on TV channels also. But watching it on the big screen is an experience in itself. Besides, when you are shooting abroad, the publicity it generates in their local press brings a lot of good will to country. I can easily count at least a 100 movies down south to be shot abroad every year. All the 4 industries namely Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam put together. Dont believe me. Google it for yourself. Rgds P

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Adakho

Jun 11, 2012 05:12pm

Have you seen "Lagaan" which was also nominated for Oscars?

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Krish

Jun 11, 2012 04:33pm

Yes, Mr. Saifullah, you are correct. And the poor in India do not get easily misled..they of course, have their two to three hours of euphoria when they see such movies, with the pastiche smiles of on-screen heroines, and the heroes in their SUVs, before they get back to their reality of daily struggle of existence. But that's not to detract from some good movie-makers like Madhur Bhandarkar with his "Chandni Bar" and even to an extent with his stylesed "Fashion"

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Murlidhar

Jun 11, 2012 04:31pm

Dear Saifullah - It is not the fact, most of the movies in India are produced in film cities, may be you are not aware of this. India has beautiful locations and we have been watching them since decades. Of course western culture and themes have been added - after all its entertainment, so why not do it? Because of this, Bollywood is not familiar all over world. What has pakistan given to you? I would ask why are you in Alabama, why not in Karachi? Scared? Please stop all these India-Pakistan political factors, just enjoy bollywood movies like rest of the Pakistanis enjoy and be a good human being rather than drawing your limits.

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Indian

Jun 11, 2012 03:07pm

Did any one ask you to watch them?

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DeepK

Jun 11, 2012 05:30am

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it. Good Morning All!!

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murali

Jun 11, 2012 06:55am

This is called reporting !!! So heartening to see it in DAWN. Thanks a lot

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babloo

Jun 12, 2012 03:11am

very true. No wonder indians long for the days of old as well. the golden age of films in india set long time ago.

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Zagham

Jun 12, 2012 03:21am

Great,but one thing you must know that every thing must be presented in sugar coated style which is Western culture to whome people like most in India .However ,it is a draw back but not as much as you consider it to be.There lies prodigious and astonshing massage of optimism in Akhtar`s poems..

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Shafaq khan Delhi

Jun 12, 2012 03:39am

A Complete Baseless Allegation... lot of Picture shown our Rich Culture in Movies....(From Mother India to Lagaan, From Mughal-E-Azam to Devdas , From Pakiza to Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak) Director with good sense of Humour always try to put scene in the Movies as the demand of Story. western culture and scenario in "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" is Demand according to Story.

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murali

Jun 12, 2012 03:50am

Misunderstandings can be cleared but not the prejudice, especially when it origins from Jealousy . If you are misunderstood, let me tell you, Bollywood produces around 170 movies rest of India alone produces 800 movies a year in 12 different languages, making the country largest movie producer in the world. well, many of them may be formula Marsala flicks, but it is also a fact that Indian film industry has produced more sociopolitical and patriotic movies than any other industry in the world. Well, I do not know what are doing in Alabama, but your language "misleading the poor" says how limited your knowledge about entertainment industry

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Nagaraj, India

Jun 12, 2012 06:03am

DAWN maintaines a very high standard of journalism for it's unbiased reporting. Even the articles published in DAWN are very informative and thought provoking. I enjoy reading DAWN as much as any other international news paper. Well done DAWN ! Keep it up.

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Jaswant

Jun 12, 2012 08:56am

Just curious - Which was the last one you saw and how old are you ?

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Shrimali

Jun 12, 2012 09:02am

Maybe you are right but there are two points for you to ponder :- 1. Since India has over four million tourists going to foreign lands - the tourism department of these countries offer incentives to the film makers to shoot in their countries. The tourism department of Switzerland is a major sponsor of a prominent film awards. 2. Kuch baat to hai Indian film Industry mein that it gets space in a Pakistani newspaper. You may like it or hate it but you cannot ignore it.

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