Kunal Kapoor is the face of Ghanta awards which will happen tonight in Mumbai. Bollywood is sportingly becoming more receptive to criticism by showing up at these satirical dos, says Karan Bhardwaj
last yer, Bollywood lyricist Anvita Dutt chose a designer sari, the most expensive one in her wardrobe, to make her moment really special at the award show! She was being honoured for writing the worst song of the year, Ishq Wala love, from the movie Student Of The Year. little embarrassed, she stood up to the dias of the Golden Kela Awards and gave a hilarious ‘acceptance speech’. “I feel blessed. One day, Shekhar (music director) got emotional and said, ‘Baby you will definitely get an award for this’. S#### ne ye nahi bataya kaunsa award milega (He didn’t tell me what award I will get). I am honoured. In fact, a few guys did a spoof of this song also a while back, which is brilliant. I told Karan (Johar) that I am going to receive this award and he said, ‘More power to you’. Everybody is delighted,” she said leaving the audience in splits. The lyricist became the first Bollywood personality to have personally received the Golden Kela Awards, which is India’s answer to the Razzies. In a separate move, Sonam Kapoor too stunned the entire fraternity when she turned up at the Ghanta Awards last year to fetch ‘WTF Was That’ trophy forMausam. The lady also sportingly posed for shutterbugs after the do.
With each passing year, the makers of these shows, that aim to honour the worst of Hindi films, are drawing attention from the stars and audience alike. While Ghanta Awards this year have Kunal Kapoor as the ambassador, it will host many Bollywood celebrities among attendees. The Kela Awards will happen later this month. “Even The Golden Raspberry Awards, which are popular today, were snubbed by Hollywood for the first 30 years. It is only now that the blue chip actors grace the occasion in person,” says Anant Singh, organiser of the Golden Kela Awards.
Right spirit
Big names like Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Vishal Bhardwaj, Arshad Warsi, Sandhya Mridul and others have often spoken about these awards on and off record and on social networking websites. “We are open to appreciation as well as criticism. At least, they are being affected by it. It can also be a motivational factor for them. Aamir Khan had said that he loved the Kela Awards because the others were rubbish and sold,” says Anant. When Kela Awards started six years ago, it was a complete no-Bollywood show. There was hardly any acknowledgement. “Culture of criticism needs to grow in India. We are so used to sycophancy or pampering stars that nobody talks about their flop show,” says Anant.
Need for change
According to Gagan Takyar, organiser of Ghanta awards, the audience is fed up of regular awards. “There are so many award shows now that they end up felicitating the same people. The credibility, too, is often challenged. In that case, these satire awards come as a different experience. Since they are about criticism, humour, spoof and comedy, they appear to be more real and fascinating,” says Gagan adding that the saturation point of regular awards had come long ago. The Ghanta Awards will happen tonight in Mumbai with nominees like Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Prateik Babbar, Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Sonakshi Sinha.
Credibility factor
While celebs choose to snub these trophies, the organisers get fans’ criticism, too. This year, the nominations for Golden Kela Awards raised eyebrows. Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, who earned several awards and critics’ admiration, are the frontrunners in worst actors’ category. Kangana Ranaut too has been nominated for Krrish 3. Twitter world has expressed shock on the omission of Katrina Kaif (Dhoom 3) and Ranbir Kapoor (Besharam). “We are not biased towards anyone. When we awarded Kangana Ranaut for being the worst supporting actress (Fashion), she got the national award for the same. So, such criticism doesn’t have any validity. We nominated Tigmanshu Dhulia for Bullett Raja but had Anti-Kela (token of appreciation) for Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns. Aamir Khan has been nominated in the category of Baawra Ho Gaya Hai Ke for Dhoom 3. We don’t nominate Katrina Kaif because she may win every year. She is not going to improve. There’s no point of nominating people who don’t act (laughs),” said Anant.