Lux Zee Cine Awards 2016 made for an evening to remember as it celebrated Indian Cinema in its truest potential adhering to the famous catchphrase of 'Content is King'. A highlight was the pioneering initiative undertaken by ZEE to introduce a special award on Zee Cine Awards 2016 called the 'Stunt Person of the Year Award'.
Akshay Kumar announced the nominees for this category and the first winner is Amit Grover for his bike stunt in the movie 'Shamitabh'. Akshay also went a step ahead and gave a cash reward of Rs. 11 lacs to stuntman, Raju's family. Raju lost his life in an unfortunate accident during the shoot of Akshay's film, 'Jaanwaar' when he lost control of a car during an action sequence. This will be an annual gesture by the actor on Zee Cine Awards 2016.
Keeping intact all the glitz and glam of a film awards show, Zee Cine Awards' core effort lied in recognizing the best of 2015 across categories along with exclusive content to Zee Marathi, Bengali and Tamil respectively. What made the celebration more special was the presence of regional talents on the same stage who got honoured for the first time amidst Bollywood biggies. While Prosenjit Chatterjee and Churni Ganguly bagged the Best Actor Honours for the Bengali film Industry, the same for Marathi industry went to Nana Patekar for 'Natsamrat'. In Telegu, all major awards went to the magnum opus 'Baahubali' which emerged as the biggest success for Indian cinema in 2015.
From box office biggies to surprise hits to first timers, Zee Cine Awards 2016 credited each and every talent that excelled in 2015. 'Bajirao Mastani' emerged as the biggest winner for the evening taking up awards across multiple categories including Best Actor and Best Director. Next that received a lot of attention and acknowledgement was 'Piku', which bagged series of honours including Best Actor and Best Actress along with technical awards.
Movie 'Masaan' too grabbed the awards for Best Debut Actor and Best Debut Director for its intense story and well sketched performances. The Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema Award made for a rare honour this time going to action director Veeru Devgan for his contribution to making action praise worthy in Hindi cinema.
Let's look at the entire list of the prestigious award winners of Zee Cine Awards 2016: