Bollywoodlife.com an India.com venture, India’s leading digital portal for Bollywood news and views recently hosted India’s first ever Social Media Film Awards 2015 for the Bollywood fraternity. There have been film awards over the years, but this is the FIRST ever social media award ceremony to take place on a digital platform. The award felicitated celebrities who not only have a strong presence on social media but also boast a huge fan base. Bollywoodlife Film Awards 2015 witnessed an overwhelming response with over 13 lakh votes for 16 categories. The voters were widespread and apart from India, we also had celebrity fan clubs from Russia, UK and the US participating in BL Awards. The BL Awards categories too were daringly different with fans voting for actors nominated in the following categories – King of Social Media, Selfie Queen, Best Social Media Moment of the Year, Most Witty Celeb, Craziest Fan Following to Instragrammer of the Year.
Shah Rukh Khan on winning The King of Social Media said “There are so many people around the world who have given me love and support for many many years. Earlier, letters and cards used to be the only way of communicating and thanking them. Now social media has made life easier. I can be closer to all my fans – thank them, hear them out and chat with them. Thank you Bollywood Life and the team for this award ‘King Of Social Media’. But truly this award goes to all the people around the world who love me and support me unconditionally.”
On receiving The Queen of Social Media award, Priyanka Chopra said “I always wanted to be a queen. When I won Miss World I pretended I was a queen. So winning this award really made me feel like one. Thank you to everyone who voted. Thank you Bollywoodlife for always supporting me and the people who inherently think well of me. I am really deeply touched and very moved.”
Dhanush on winning the Most Fan Friendly South Celeb said; “My sincere thanks to Bollywoodlife.com for giving me this award and my sincere humble thanks to fans for voting for me because of your support and unconditional love I am here today. It really means a lot to me that you guys have voted for me for this special award – Most Fan Friendly South Celeb. Thank you so much for the continuous support and love. I will try and my level best to give good films and good performance. Thank you so much!
Varun Dhawan on winning the Selfie King Award said, “A big thank you to all of you. The reason I am holding this is because of you and your votes. And I know it is very authentic because I have checked the data. And being the first Selfie King of 2015 on Bollywoodlife.com does mean a lot to me. Social media is the place where you express your individuality. And I have tried to do that. I have put up some really weird pictures, videos and a lot of weird stuff generally that you guys have appreciated and supported.”
Arjun Kapoor too shared his excitement on receiving the Best Debut on Social Media “It’s not male or female so that’s really cool. I have managed to win this award. I made my debut three years back and there was lot of competition like here as well. Best Debut on Social Media this year with esteemed company of Rajini Sir, Kajol and Tiger. So I am really thankful to all those people who appreciated my work as well as me coming on social media and getting this award. It’s only been nine months. I am flattered to have over million followers and managing to win an award as well.”
Bollywoodlife Film Awards 2015 winners across all 16 categories are as follows:
King of Social Media: Shah Rukh Khan; Queen of Social Media: Priyanka Chopra; Selfie Queen: Sonakshi Sinha; Selfie King: Varun Dhawan; Fitness Icon Male: Tiger Shroff; Fitness Icon Female: Jacqueline Fernandez; The Most Fan Friendly Celeb: Abhishek Bachchan; Best Debut on Social Media: Arjun Kapoor; Most Witty Celeb: Twinkle Khanna; Most Popular South Celeb: Shruti Haasan; Most Motivational Celeb: Nargis Fakhri; Instagrammer of the Year: Sonam Kapoor; Most Fan Friendly South Celeb : Dhanush; Craziest Fan Following: Shahid Kapoor; Best Social Media moment of the year: Shah Rukh debuting AbRam’s photo on Twitter; Forever Diva: Juhi Chawla
Sharing the excitement on the awards, Sandeep Amar, COO, India Web Portal Ltd (IWPL) said, “The thought behind creating first ever social media awards was to collaborate with ideas and efforts aimed at promoting Indian cinema. With over 13 lakh votes for 16 categories, the Bollywoodlife awards couldn’t have asked for a better response. It’s a fun way for the fans to cast their vote for their favorite celebs because it creates a certain bond between the stars and their fans.”
Tushar Joshi, Editor BollywoodLife.com said, “BL Film Awards came into being with an intention to create a property that is truly of the fans, by the fans and for the fans. We’ve so many awards declared by critics, juries and publications, but this one is unique, it is for the FAN who selects their favourite star and there lies its merit. BL Awards brings the celebrities closer to their fans than ever before.”