Bollywood director Ashutosh Gowarikar tried to re-tell history last year with Jodhaa Akbar. Over the weekend, his film re-wrote history, as the epic period-piece and historical romance claimed Best Picture honors at the Tenth Annual International Indian Film Academy award show, held at the Kotai Arena of the Venetian Macau on Saturday.

With tough competition from a solid group of Hindi-language flicks such as Ghajini, A Wednesday, Dostana, Rock On and Race, Gowarikar also nabbed the Best Director award, while the film’s star Hrithik Roshan earned the Best Actor award. Acclaimed composer A.R. Rahman also won the award for Best Musical Direction for his work on Jodhaa Akbar, his second major honor of 2009; earlier this year, he earned two Academy Awards for Best Composer for directing the music and score of Slumdog Millionaire. Overall, Jodhaa Akbar was nominated for ten awards.

“When I started this movie, I was advised by all my friends not to make the film on a subject (that) depicted two religions coming together, because the situation in the country at that point of time was not right,” Gowarikar said upon accepting his award at the IIFA ceremony. “But I am happy that I made a film which is based on Hindu-Muslim unity.”

A period-piece based in sixteenth century India, Jodhaa Akbar is a love story focusing on Akbar, then the leader of the expansive Mughal Empire, and his courtship of Hindu princess Jodhaa. In his pursuit of love, the union between Jodhaa and Akbar ultimately changed the course of history in the Indian subcontinent, according to the film.

While Hrithik Roshan was named Best Actor for his role as the historical leader Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar, his counterpart in the film, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan fell short of being named Best Actress for her rendition of Akbar’s love interest and wife, Jodhaa Bai. Instead, the Best Actress nod was given to Priyanka Chopra for her lead role in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion. Chopra faced tough competition in earning top acting honors, staving off big Bollywood names such as Asin, Katrina Kaif and Bipasha Basu, in addition to Rai Bachchan.

Also winning awards were:

• Jashn-e-Bahara earned honors for Best Lyricist (Javed Akhtar for scoring the film) and Best Male Playback Singer (Javed Ali);
• Arjun Rampal was commended again for his role in Rock On!, winning his third trophy as Best Supporting Actor;
• While Aishwarya Rai Bachchan did not win Best Actress for Jodhaa Akbar, her husband, Abhishek Bachchan, won the Best Actor in a Comic Role for his portrayal as a posing homosexual roommate in Dostana;
• Asin and Farhan Akhtar earned Best Debut Performances for their roles in Ghajini and Rock On!, respectively;
• For his role as the villain in Race, Akshaye Khanna won top honors as Best Actor in a Negative Role;
• The terrorist-based A Wednesday also earned two awards, including Best Story and Best Screenwriter to Neeraj Pandey; and
• Rajesh Khanna was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to Indian cinema.

There were also several other special awards created specifically for the award show’s ten-year anniversary celebration, with three of the categories carrying a “Best of the Decade” designation. The special awards were intended to honor some of the biggest names in Bollywood. While she did not earn an award for her role as leading lady in Jodhaa Akbar, Rai Bachchan was named Actress of Decade for her acclaimed performances in films such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Mohabbatein, Devdas, Rain Coat, Dhoom 2 and Guru. In 2002, Rai Bachchan earned a Filmfare Award as Best Actress for her role in Devdas.

Her co-star in the award-winning films Mohabbatein and Devdas, Shah Rukh Khan, was named Actor of Decade. In addition to earning the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance in Mohabbatein, Khan also earned a Filmfare Award for Best Actor two years later in Devdas. He also nabbed Filmfare’s Best Actor award for his roles in Swades and Chak De India, as well as garnering dozens of nominations in the past ten years.

The 2001 Bollywood flick, Lagaan, which was also India’s official entry to the Academy Awards that season, was designated as Film of the Decade, in part due to the influence the flick had both in India and globally. In addition to recognizing Lagaan for raising the level of Indian cinema on the world stage, the IIFA big wigs also honored Rai Bachchan for her role as Bollywood’s international ambassador. The famed actress was honored with the ‘Global Face of Indian Cinema’ award.

Also honored was actor-activist Rahul Bose, who was given a special award for his contributions to increasing awareness of environment issues.

In addition to the award show, there were several dance performances, including a climactic number by Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya. Not to be left out, Abhishek’s father, the legendary Amitabh, made a few apperances on stage during the awards presentation.

As the 2009 award show came to a close in Macau on Sunday, the Bollywood equivalent of the Oscars were held for the first time in China. Previous hosts included London, Yorkshire, Bangkok, Dubai, Johannesburg and Singapore. Next year’s location has yet to be formally announced, though Ireland has reportedly campaigned heavily to host the award show in 2010.