A 26-year-old Indian failed to pay up at the seventh Zee Cine Awards extravaganza in Dubai last month by successfully bidding nearly half a million dirham (about Rs 55 lakh) for a gold trophy from Salman Khan .
Zee Television Network has now handed over the auctioned Zee Cine Awards Trophy to the Dubai-based businessman Anoop Singh who came forward to contribute 450,000 dirhams to St. Anthony's Home for the Aged, Mumbai, supported by Salman. The total cheque amount is for 500,000 dirhams (Rs 60 lakh) as it also includes the 50,000 dirhams contributed by the channel.
The cheque was handed over earlier this month to the cine star at a function held in Dubai by Anoop Singh who received the trophy in the presence of Special Projects Manager - ZEE Network Yogesh Radhakrishnan.
The 500-mm high 100-mm wide trophy is designed by Australian Gold Mine's Citigold Corp, one of the sponsors of the awards function.
When the young Indian from a jeweller's family who had bid for the trophy auctioned by Salman at the awards ceremony on February 26 later expressed his inability to pay, the channel announced that three other Indians based in Dubai had come forward with similar bids though no decision had been taken about them.
In any case, the channel announced it was committed to paying an additional sum of 50,000 dirham in addition to the sum of 450,000 dirham bid by the youth. The auction had begun with an initial bid of 10,000 dirham.
The event, the first to be held overseas, seventh Zee Cine turned into a statement for amity between Indian and Pakistani artistes performing together on stage. Pakistan artistes like the well known Omar Sharief and actresses Resham Khan and Rima Khan, besides several Indian artistes including Amitabh Bachchan , Feroze Khan , Shah Rukh Khan , Salman and Sushmita Sen made fervent appeals for erasing the boundaries between the two countries. They said the very fact that artistes from both countries were known and idolised emphasised the need for people-to-people contact.
While Kal Ho Na Ho and Koi Mil Gaya , both with Preity Zinta in the lead walked away with five awards each, the Sanjay Dutt -starrer Munnabhai MBBS and Pinjar , based on renowned Padma Vibhushan awardee Amrita Pritam's novel in the backdrop of partition, received four awards each.
The lifetime achievement award went to noted producer and director Yash Johar , while Bachchan was given the Golden Great Award which he promptly passed on to fellow artiste Dharmendra . SRK and Preity received the super stars of the year awards for consistent performances in more than one film in 2003.
A 26-year-old Indian failed to pay up at the seventh Zee Cine Awards extravaganza in Dubai last month by successfully bidding nearly half a million dirham (about Rs 55 lakh) for a gold trophy from 