What: The BIG-ITA Night of Honours
Where: Bhavan’s Cultural Ground, Andheri, Mumbai
When: November 24, 2007

Anu Ranjan founder of The Indian Television Academy has instituted 7th annual Academy Awards, which have become the most coveted signet of excellence in Television, today. Now in the 7th year of a highly celebrated existence, these Awards are looked upon as an annual festival of joy by the entire TV-fraternity.

The function called the BIG ITA Night of Honours held on Saturday, 24th November 2007 at the Bhavan’s Ground Andheri.

“This year The Academy is striving to do something uniquely different in the Awards ceremony. Besides the regular Awards, it would confer special honours on those who have changed the face of Indian Television. This is the first occasion when such bigwigs across channels and organizations representing the entire television industry were present on one stage”, informed filmmaker and social activist Ashoke Pandit who is closely associated with the awards.

Some of the prominent personalities who were honored include the superstar Mr. Amitabh Bachchan for having achieved, ‘Ultimate Eminence’ in the world of Entertainment, encompassing Cinema, Television & Media…!

The other worthies to accorded laurels were:

Broadcasters like Mr. Aroon Purie (Aaj Tak) , Dr. Prannoy Roy (NDTV), Mr. Rajat Sharma (INDIA TV), Mr. Ronnie Screwvala (UTV), Sahara Shri Subrata Roy (Sahara TV), Content-providers including Mr. Dheeraj Kumar (Creative Eye), Mr. Prem Sagar (Sagar Arts), Mr. Ravi Chopra (B R TV), Mr. Sanjay Khan (Numero Uno International Limited).

Besides this there was a Special Laurel to Ms. Khushboo for achieving iconic status in Southern Television after having carved out a niche for herself in Cinema…!

“The awards were punctuated by performances of TV-stars with rare razzle-dazzle. The presenters were the luminaries of the show-world besides the Honorable Union Minister Shri Kamal Nathji. The other presenters were include Ramesh Sippy, Gulshan Grover, Subbarami Reddy, Mumtaaz, Moushumi Chatterjee, Amrita Rao, David Dhawan, Madhur Bhandarkar Sanjay khan, Akbar Khan and others” added Mr. Pandit.

There was a special tribute to Amitabh Bachchan by child stars like Swini Khara (Cheeni Kum) & Raj Pandit (singer / composer) among many. These talented kids performed to such classic numbers like Sa Ra Zamana, Anthony Gonsalves, Jhuma Chuma and Don, paying a memorable tribute to the superstar of the millennium.

The other highlight of the evening was “Baa & Bahu” act having performances by the grand old ladies of Indian television of Shubha Khote, Savita Prabhune & Shama Deshpande. The young brigade of Amrapali, Jasweer Kaur and Karishma Tanna performed to the remixed versions of the same songs. The songs include Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon, Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar and Leke Pehla Pehla Pyaar.

Smriti Irani, Mandira Bedi & Sharad Kelkar hosted the evening.