Be it film, television or music, hundreds of entertainers across the world spend their lives trying to improve the quality of our lives with the characters they portray, the stories they tell with their life choices and preferences. They become our role models, some manage with utmost grace and elegance while others succumb and buckle under pressure... Britney Spears anyone?
It is then our responsibility to celebrate these people, to share with them the joy they have brought to our lives. We honour them and shower them with accolades to motivate them. The trend of mega award ceremonies is on the rise but strangely enough it is the very same industry which is being celebrated that is now questioning the merit of these events.
The Hollywood award season kicked off with the New York Film Critics Circle awards on Jan 10th, followed by the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, stars await the Baftas and Sag Awards leading up to the grand finale at the Oscars. The gossip mills are working over time, there is much debate about who the hot favourites are? Who sizzled on the red carpet? And are these events even credible?
In Bollywood some of the well-known awards are the Filmfare Awards, Apsara Awards, Star Screen Awards, Zee Cine Awards and International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards. Needless to say these too are rife with controversy.
Locally, Hum TV opened the year with its annual award show on the heels of the Engro Excellence Awards — the latest addition in our award bouquet. While the Lux Style Awards (LSA) continue to bring style and glamour, Indus TV set its event apart by holding their ceremony at an unusual venue —Bhurban’s Pearl Continental Hotel. But the award ceremonies in Pakistan are yet to be taken as seriously as those in Hollywood and Bollywood.
“Hollywood and Bollywood have so much power when it comes to the awards. It’s about how the industry sustains it,” said Frieha Altaf, CEO Catwalk Productions, the company that manages the LSA’s.
The number of award ceremonies is growing in Bollywood, but many stars seem to be disillusioned with them. Aamir Khan was the first to boycott them and now Ajay Devgn has joined him, but there are others too who feel there is no space for genuine talent at such events which are meant to garner publicity.
“I don’t see any value in any of the award ceremonies nowadays. The ones I don’t have value from my heart for, I don’t attend,” says Khan.
Devgn says such ceremonies keep cropping up every year as organisers try to primarily market themselves through awards and celebrities.
“I don’t attend award ceremonies. They give awards to those who attend the function. They keep their options open. If everybody attends the ceremony then the award gets divided into three categories,” Devgn told IANS. “They also have to market the event; essentially they sell their awards.”
Emraan Hashmi echoes the same sentiment and maintains that these ceremonies try to keep everyone happy.
Award ceremonies don’t excite Kareena Kapoor because she feels most awards go to the undeserving candidates. “Those who don’t attend — their names are never declared in award ceremonies. Those who are undeserving get the awards and those who deserve them end up enjoying pizza at home.”
Suniel Shetty said, “I don’t think that all the awards in a ceremony are rigged, but sometimes it happens that awards are given to please them (stars).”
However, Priyanka Chopra still has faith in honours and wants to believe none of them is rigged. “I don’t think the awards are rigged and really want to believe this because we work very hard. Out of personal experience I would love to believe that every award I have won has been out of voting because I deserved it,” said Chopra.
With Bollywood actors boycotting award ceremonies and Golden Globes facing the “payola” controversy, it is difficult to believe in the credibility of these mega events.
What makes an award show authentic in Pakistan? Frieha Altaf answers with reference to LSA, “It is the regularity that shows they are authentic. If you miss a year, you lose the credibility. The value comes from who deserves it and deserves it rightly. Some are winners and some are losers. It’s difficult to make everyone happy and there is a judging system that decides on it.”
WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM IANS
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ