Akshaye nominated for Producer's Guild Awards

The Film and Television Producers Guild of India will be hosting the Producers' Guild Awards on 30 March 2008 at the MMRDA Grounds in Mumbai.

Hindi GEC NDTV Imagine and media and entertainment company Wizcraft International will promote the awards.

NDTV Imagine CEO Sameer Nair said, "We are very pleased to present the Producers' Guild Awards on NDTV Imagine. We have had an association with this award for the past three years and now we have plans to extend this collaboration for the next ten years."

"We will be screening the awards function on our channel on the second week of April. The promos for the event will begin sometime this week and will be shown across the entire NDTV network," Nair added.

Wizcraft is producing the ad campaigns for the awards which will then be promoted by them through print and television.

Wizcraft International Entertainment director Viraf Sarkari said, "We are very proud to be associated with this prestigious award. It is the only award that is chosen by the core industry itself and we promise the it will emerge this year as one of the most glamorous awards, be it on scale, performances, attendance, look, feel or presentation."

The trophy which will be given away at the award function is called "Apsara." A total of 28 Apsaras will be presented this year, of which 16 are for the popular awards category, 7 for the technical category and 5 for the special awards category.

The Film and Television Producers Guild of India's lifetime achievement award will go to the one nominated and voted by the guild's special Committee.

The recipient of lifetime achievement award must be a well-established performer who has contributed to improving the image of the film and television profession, and has a history of active involvement in humanitarian and public service endeavours.

Guild president Ronnie Screwvala said, "The Producers' Guild Awards looks to honour achievers within the fraternity and it is an initiative from the fraternity itself. And that is the prime differentiator and what makes this special. With this synergy between the guild and Wizcraft, we are confident that very soon this will become the most credible amongst awards."

The awards are audited by PriceWaterhouse Coopers, who also have been the auditors for the Oscars for the past 68 years. Nominations include all motion pictures exhibited or broadcast between 1 December 2006 and 30 November 2007.

The nominations in the best actor category are Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshay Khanna and Shahid Kapoor. Kareena Kapoor will be competing with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Tabu, Shilpa Shetty and Rani Mukherjee.

The best film category will witness Chak De India competing with Jab We Met, Guru, Life in a Metro and Cheeni Kum.