Imbued with nostalgia, its grand stage will take a stock of the leaps the industry has made over the decades as well as the excellence it has achieved.

The year 2012 witnessed cinema grow even more experimental and bold. Kahaani placed a heavily pregnant Vidya Balan at the centre of a thriller and set the box-office ringing. A revenge-mafia saga Gangs of Wasseypur (GoW) pushed the boundaries with a release in two highly stylised parts. Paan Singh Tomar, the biopic of an athlete-turned-dacoit, showed the power of a consummate performance and a gripping story, while in the later half of the year, ending her 15-year hiatus, Sridevi established that she is still the nation’s darling.

These facets of contemporary Indian cinema are set to be on display as the names of nominees and winners are read out at the awards ceremony.

At the same time, India continues to sway to the masala and power presence of A-listers.

This was established by Hrithik Roshan’s Agneepath, Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Aamir Khan’s Talaash and Salman Khan’s Dabangg 2 — all are in the race for multiple awards apart from top honours for their stars.

The front-runner among the nominees is Barfi!, where Ranbir Kapoor traded the angst and guitar of Rockstar (which won him the laurels in 2011) for innocent charm.

What will ultimately triumph on Saturday night is good cinema. “Who cares whether I win or not? It has been a great year for our cinema and it is great to see good films nominated,” said Anurag Kashyap, director of GoW.

Ranbir is also leading from the front in commemoration of Indian cinema’s centenary. The fourth-generation actor will present an act that showcases his family’s rich cinematic legacy, and will be joined on stage by actor mother Neetu Kapoor. The mother-son appearance is a rare treat — the first-ever at a public platform.

The Kapoor family has been an integral part of Indian cinema for more than eight decades. And Ranbir will perform to a medley of songs picturised on actors of the Kapoor clan, including grandfather Raj Kapoor, grand-uncle Shammi Kapoor and father Rishi Kapoor.

The red carpet event is packed with other interesting and innovative acts. Sonakshi Sinha will make her debut as a Screen Awards performer by dancing to a medley of popular songs from Rowdy Rathod, Son of Sardar and Dabangg 2 among others. Other star performers are Priyanka Chopra and the young cast of Student of the Year — Sidhath Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt.

Vidya Balan and Deepika Padukone will send the glamour quotient soaring with their appearances, while Mika and Ayushmann Khurana too are set to make the evening memorable.