Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Hrithik Roshan took centrestage at the recently concluded Hello! awards
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 30, 2017)

The 10th anniversary of Hello! Magazine was marked with the star-studded Hello! Hall of Fame Awards on Tuesday, March 28 at the Taj Lands’ End in Bandra, with Bollywood A-listers headlining the red carpet arrivals.

Hrithik Roshan, who received an award from Rekha, his screen mum from Koi... Mil Gaya, was ecstatic, repeatedly exulting that it was a “special award because Rekha has been a silent angel” in his life. When the 43-year-old actor proceeded to touch the Bollywood diva’s feet, she joked that she’d gladly accept a ‘guru dakshina’ in the form of a movie with him.



Elsewhere, Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt and Anushka Sharma put their never-seen-before camaraderie on display, even sharing a table briefly. Kat, who was initially unsure about turning up, having spent the entire afternoon filming Jagga Jasoos, looked radiant in a fiery red Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla number and took home the Glamour Icon trophy. She was back on the set of the Anurag Basu fantasy-adventure after the do.

Host of the evening Sophie Choudry crooned “Diamonds Are Forever”, while saxophone prodigy Rhys Sebastian delivered a standout performance; Indo-Canadian comedian Russell Peters had the audience in splits with a stand-up act and also shook a leg with Badrinath Ki Dulhania hero Varun Dhawan.

An overwhelmed Karan Johar, while handing out the Outstanding Talent of the Year award to his protégée, Alia, exclaimed, “She is my second daughter and third child,” to which the 24-year-old ‘student’ quipped that she’d play KJo’s mum Hiroo if there was a biopic being made on the filmmaker. “You aren’t Sindhi enough,” KJo noted, adding that she should play his childhood friend, Twinkle Khanna, instead.



Meanwhile, Mrs Funnybones, who arrived with mum Dimple Kapadia, won a standing ovation at the end of her acceptance speech that was generously peppered with spiffy punch lines. The Visionary Woman of the Year quipped, “I might not deserve this award, and I definitely didn’t deserve the name, Twinkle, which was a major reason for me being bullied as a kid.” The bestselling author and soon-to-debut film producer thanked her actress-mum for being her role model. “She wasn’t always an exceptional actress, but she didn’t let failures get to her,” Twinkle noted, while dotting mum Dimple hurled flying kisses from the front row.

Disha Patani, last seen in Jackie Chan’s Kung Fu Yoga, was the Fresh Face of the Year, while Anushka Sharma received the Entertainer of the Year trophy. Shahid Kapoor went down on one knee (again) for missus Mira Rajput, as the duo picked up with Most Stylish Couple prize. Author-columnist Shobhaa De, who sat between Hrithik and Varun Dhawan (the Popular Choice winner) in the front row, was adjudged Timeless Icon trophy. Saif Ali Khan, who’s recently returned from a brief holiday in London, was to receive the Most Stylish Man award but gave the event a miss.