SINGAPORE December 7th, 2023:
India claimed the Best Actor and Actress double at tonight’s Asian Academy Creative Awards Gala Final to ensure it shared top position on the winners’ table.
Singapore and Japan took out 9 of a possible 16 categories in the earlier Grand Awards ceremony. Such was their domination that host Bobby Tonelli feigned surprise when both countries missed out on the award for Best Direction (non-fiction).
By the conclusion of the Gala Awards ceremony, Singapore and Japan had each claimed 7 wins. They were joined by India following a last gasp win by Rajshri Dashpande who clinched Best Actress In A Leading Role for her performance in Trial By Fire (Netflix).
Deshpande defeated Korea’s Song Hye-kyo in a cliffhanger, with the winning margin just 0.05.
The Glory lead actress would have fancied her chances after her series won the highly prized Best Drama Series for Netflix. Castmate Lim Ji-yeon scored the golden Goddess statuette for Best Actress In A Supporting Role.
Coming into the final two awards India needed a strong finish, if it had any chance of sharing top of the table honours. Vijay Varma delivered when his performance as a mass serial killer in Dahaad (Amazon Prime Video), received the nod from the international Members of Jury.
Thailand was a strong competitor all evening and claimed 2 awards including the coveted Best Feature Film for Hunger (Netflix) along with Best Theme Song or Title Theme which went to Viu.
FINAL WINNERS’ TABLE
India 7
Japan 7
Singapore 7
Korea 3
Malaysia 2
Philippines 2
Thailand 2
Australia 1
China 1
Hong Kong(SAR) 1
Indonesia 1
Myanmar 1
Taiwan 1
The Philippines received the special Asian Academy of Creative Arts Legacy Award from 2023 Chairman Clement Schwebig (Warner Bros Discovery). In announcing Philippines’ ABS-CBN as its inaugural recipient, Mr. Schwebig said “this award is presented to an organization that has demonstrated outstanding achievement, great innovation, or industry leadership, especially in the face of adversity. Our inaugural recipient embodies all of those attributes and then some”.
