‘No Aamir Khan, no Akshay Kumar... It’s a sham!’

It’s an ever-raging debate that film award shows are rigged. Calling the justconcluded International Indian Films Academy (IIFA) awards an “international farce”, Censor Board chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani has lashed out at this year’s nominations. “Look at the hypocrisy. They haven’t even nominated Aamir Khan for Dangal and Akshay Kumar for Airlift and Rustom just because they wouldn’t attend their weekend holiday plans masquerading as an awards function,” says Nihalani, who boycotts the awards do. “The day Mr Bachchan (actor Amitabh Bachchan) opted out [in 2011], IIFA lost its dignity and relevance.” Questioning the funding for an extravagant event like such for which stars are flown to an international venue, he says that some actors who were taken to New York [this year], did not even attend the actual ceremony. “They were too tired after partying all night. Who is paying for this extravagance? It’s our foreign exchange being squandered as every top star is given tickets for his spouse, kids, parents, ayahs (maids), bodyguards, friends, and friends of friends. I’ve heard stars are even given money to shop... Is the Indian government benefiting from this global event?” he asks. Nihalani also challenges IIFA’S claim of representing Indian cinema abroad. “Initially, we had cinema from various states getting token representation. Now, it’s only Bollywood. Then why call it International Indian films awards? It’s such a sham! Bollywood is not Indian cinema,” he rages.