Stage set for Tellys '04!

They are back! The Indian Telly Awards, in their fourth edition this year, kickstarted proceedings with jury meetings spread over the whole of last week in Mumbai. Judging 2000 entries competing in 93 categories in the technical and popular categories was no mean task, but the able jury comprising some venerated names in the industry, made it seem like a cakewalk! Sifting through a record number of entries that are competing this time, zeroing in on the best piece of art, sometimes sorting through the clutter to cull the best work from the pile, the jury often sat up till after midnight to complete the task. But it wasn't all work and no play. There was high camaraderie among the team, that comprised diverse personalities like Broadcast Worldwide chairman Rathikant Basu, actors Poonam Dhillon, Anju Mahendroo, Padmini Kolhapure, Bharati Achrekar, Anjjaan Srivastav and Kunika, ace filmmakers Kunal Kohli and Lekh Tandon....the best names from the industry were assembled to judge the best of Indian television this last one and half years. Popular and technical awards categories were what the jury had to make their assessments on. The baton will now pass on to the public for the polling round, the dates for which will be announced shortly. Just how arduous was the task before the jury can be gauged from the fact that this year close to 2,000 entries were competing in 93 categories, with an additional 32 new awards introduced this year. The juries for the three categories of awards were different. The Popular awards jury comprised eminent personalities from the industry: film maker Lekh Tandon, Broadcast Worldwide chairman Rathikant Basu, Hum Tum director Kunal Kohli, cine and TV star Anju Mahendroo, TV personality and actor Kunika Sadanand Lall, India Today deputy editor Kaveree Bamzai, TV and film actor Bharati Achrekar, writer Rekha Nigam, TV and cine star Poonam Dhillon, film actress Padmini Kolhapure, ace documentary maker Rakesh Sharma and cine and TV actor Anjjaan Srivastav. The Technical awards were judged by ace cinematographer Dharam Gulati, TV editor and director Javed Sayyed and the young film editor Ashmith Kunder.