Fourteen years ago a prestigious meeting was called by the Chairman of Indian ExpressGroup, Vivek Goenka and attended by all the bigwigs of film fraternity, an idea was born. It was to institute jury based awards which would be a complete contrast from the existing popular and critics awards. The jury would comprise different departments of filmmaking and determine excellence in Hindi cinema.

The film industry was enthusiastic and promised complete support. An advisory panel was formed and the ground rules for the selection of the winners defined. Top filmmakers and leading actors voluntarily participated in the process.

Panasonic was the first sponsor and the brain behind the event, a woman. So when the trophy was designed, it was natural that she opted for a female form. The premier award night was held at Helipad, Film City. It was a unique venue, a promising start to an event that would define credibility. It was a glorious event. Understated but reflective of integrity quite like the profile of the paper.

Came the second year and Screenturned more adventurous. We had a new sponsor, Videocon and a new event head, Alyque Padamsee. The theme of the show was Aircraft. The venue, The Flying Club, Juhu and the compere Tom Alter dressed in a pilot's uniform. This was the year Hollywood star Steven Seagal graced the occasion and a helicopter dropped confetti from atop.

The third year event was conceived by Anupam Kher's budding company at that time. Directed by wife Kirron Kher, the theme was Decades. Superstars representing the era walked down the isle as memorable songs of films they represented played in the background. So simple yet so effective.

The fourth year, the theme was Laughter. The man behind the show, a comedian, Satish Kaushik. He chose the concept because he felt laughter was the most neglected factor of Hindi films. Videocon continued to be our sponsors for five successive years. And Andheri Sports Complex, our permanent venue for six years. The audience was more than satisfied with our performance but our quest for perfection made us spread our wings.

The seventh year falling at the turn of the millennium brought euphoric changes. Screen hired the best in shobiz, Cineyug to design the show. The eighth year award show proved a milestone event in more than one way. We got the highest TRP ratings and even won a trophy for the Best Tele Event of the year from Indian Television Academy.

Now getting ready for the Nineth Annual show, Screen was once again exploring a new venue and a new theme. Backed by the premier channel STAR and Asian Paints, Screen promises to live up to the magic of showbiz. In the tenth year, Asian Paints were our sponsors. I & B Minister Sushma Swaraj, after granting industry status to the film fraternity, lit the lamp. Aparna Sen, Konkona, Gurinder Chaddha and Boman Irani became the first-ever recipients of the newly introduced Screen Diaspora awards.

Our eleventh year installment dazzled with Hrithik recreating the magic of Koi...Mil Gaya with an alien brigade, Mumtaz came out of self-imposed exile to present the Lifetime Award to Rajesh Khanna. The theme was Mumbai and Hero Honda our sponsors, in the twelfth year. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black made a clean sweep with ten awards and Abhishek-Rani became Jodi No. 1for their Bunty Aur Babli con act.

In our thirteen year, Hero Honda sponsored the show. While Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna pitched in rare public appearance at the awards, Salman Khan's gyrating number was the grand finale of the show that kickstarts the new year.