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A UFO, gun shots, fireworks, and the golden lady. The 10th Asian Paints Annual Star Screen Weekly Awards had the sprinkle of stardust, the dash of style and the aura of mystery. The red carpet entries, backstage murmurs and onstage entertainment were total paisa vasool for spectators who thronged the sides of Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Hrithik Roshan took the golden statuette for his braveheart act in Koi Mil Gaya, dedicating it to ''little children like Rohit''. In fact, it was a Roshan sweep as they bagged five shining statuettes, including the Best Film and Best Director trophies for dad Rakesh. The Kodak moment for the night took place when Koi...'s gang of child artistes rushed to the stage as Rakesh and Hrithik won.

In contrast, Urmila Matondkar - who grabbed Best Actress for her spine-chilling act in Bhoot - gave a bow to horror. The lady in red, and lady of the evening, quipped, ''I think I'm the first actress thanking God as well as a bhoot for this award.''

As for performances, months ago, we had agreed that Hrithik would come up with a mind-blowing act for us and to ensure that he remained our “star” performer we even preponed the show by 24 hours to January 15. He made it worth our while. Even during rehearsals, those who caught his performance were unanimous in their opinion that he was “out-of-this-world”. An inventive mix of histrionics, magical aliens, gaana bajana and breathless acrobatics, Hrithik’s turn-in-the-spotlight overwhelmed the assembled gathering. Preity Zinta, pretty in pink and sitting in the first row, was almost dancing in the aisles. Having watched the rehearsals time and again, she was well clued in in her Koi...Mil Gaya’s hero’s every move and kept up a running commentary when she wasn’t humming the song. We could understand her excitement. Hrithik was pure magic!

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