CBFC Chief Pahlaj Nihalani slams IIFA Awards, calls it a paid holiday for B-Town stars!

The chief of Centeal Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Pahlaj Nihalani has slammed the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards, saying that the awards event lost its significance when Amitabh Bachchan decided to opt out of it back in the year 2011. He also called IIFA an "international farce".

A report on the Hindustan Times quoted  Nihalani as saying, "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.”

He also pointed out that a number of actors who were there in New York didn't even bother to attend the award function as they were too tired to do so after partying all night. "What I want to know is, who is paying for this extravagance?” he further said, pointing out that he's heard that B-Town actors are even given money for shopping in addition to the tickets for their families and extended family and friends. He questioned how much impact has Indian cinema made globally in the past 18 years and what part did IIFA play in it. 

Challenging IIFA's claim of representing Indian cinema abroad, Nihalani further said, "Initially we had cinema from various states getting token representation at the awards.Now we only have Bollywood. So why do they call themselves the International Indian films awards? It’s such a sham! Bollywood is not Indian cinema,” added the report.