Of the newcomers who joined the Bollywood fray last year, there is no denying that unrelated star kids Ranbir Kapoor (son of veteran actor Rishi and Neetu Singh) and Sonam Kapoor (Anil’s daughter), who were paired in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Saawariya, as well as Deepika Padukone, who was paired with the iconic Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om, made the biggest impact. And so it is not surprising that all three bagged nominations in the Superstar of Tomorrow categories.

With Ranbir, who reminds one of a young Hrithik Roshan in the making, competing against Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kunal Khemu, Ruslan Mumtaz and Muzzamil Ibrahim, his chance of walking away with the award is looking favourable.

On Himesh Reshammiya landing a nomination for the same award, one can only hope it was a big mistake - he was obviously supposed to be shunted to one of the music categories. Not. By the by, rumour has it the singer-cum-actor will be making his way to South African for a two-city concert.

Bollyworld’s vote for Superstar of Tomorrow - Female goes to Padukone, who managed to make an indelible impression despite being overshadowed by SRK.

The less said about the Breakthrough Performance Male nominations, the better. The choices are dreadful. As for the female category, it looks like Kangana Ranaut is primed to bag the honours.

Although Anil Kapoor deserves recognition for producing Gandhi My Father, the judges will have a tough time deciding on the winner - all of the candidates deserve the nomination for delivering fresh, engaging and compelling offerings in contrasting genres.

Why Rani Mukherjee bagged a Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Saawariya and not Zohra Seghal baffles? Especially with Seghal being the more captivating performer.

Govinda gets the thumbs up for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Pawan Malhotra for Best Actor in a Negative Role.

If one had to single out the actor and actress who made the biggest impression last year, it would be Akshay Kumar and Madhuri Dixit. Ideally, they should take male and female honours for Star of the Year.

The Dream Director Award is a toss up between Mani Ratnam and Aamir Khan and Chak De! India, Taare Zameen Par and Guru are the big contenders for Best Film.

[tonight.co.za]