The RACE for awards begins

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">The rat race is forever on in our <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">filmi duniya</span>, but this RACE we are referring to is of a different sort. <br />It''s the Rajkamal Academy of Cinematic Excellence (RACE) National Awards, formerly known as the V. Shantaram Awards, started in 1993 by the laid out plans and vision of late filmmaker Shantaram.<br />RACE shortlists the best films in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and ''other Indian languages'' category (that includes Marathi and Bengali cinema). <br />On Tuesday night this year''s nomination round of RACE was held amidst much fanfare. <br />Jackie Shroff, Gauri Karnik ,filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Partho Ghosh, Jhanu Baruah (Assamese) and Ashutosh Gowariker; producers Bobby Bedi and Smita Thackeray among others joined city sheriff Kiran Shantaram in the open-air show anchored by Raageshwari. <br />As for the nominated films, Ajay Devgan (<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Company</span>) tipped over Shah Rukh Khan (<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Devdas</span>) for Hindi cinema''s entry for best actor, though <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Devdas</span> seemed to be Bollywood''s entry for most other categories. <br />The whistle has been blown, all the contenders are pacing neck-to-neck, let''s just wait and watch who wins the final RACE! </div> </div>