Veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta, in his latest, no-nonsense opinion, openly named who's who of Bollywood and their alleged politics during award shows. Shekhar, who currently serves as the editor-in-chief of ThePrint and was the former CEO and editor-in-chief of The Indian Express Group, recalled a few instances where certain Bollywood biggies got miffed over receiving no awards or nominations. Katrina Kaif was among many other celebrities, whose alleged incident was mentioned in his long piece. The journalist revealed how the actress threw tantrums, just minutes before her performance, because she 'gets invited but gets no awards'.
The above-mentioned incident took place in the year 2012, at Screen Awards when Shekhar Gupta was the CEO of the organisation in question. Shekhar, in his piece, claimed how he had to end up going to the Ek Tha Tiger actress' vanity van and plead her because she threw last-minute tantrums. Recalling their encounter, Shekhar stated how the actress had a breakdown while saying that she is always called at award shows but is never given one. Well, that's when they had to invent the 'popular choice award' category. "In 2012, when Katrina Kaif was to perform, paid fully in advance, she threw a tantrum minutes before her performance as she wasn’t being given any award. I was taken to her vanity van to plead with her," wrote Shekhar.
He added, "Katrina was all dressed and painted up to perform. And then, the outburst. Why do they always call me but give me no awards? I said that was never the deal, you have a contract to perform. But by now, tears were streaming down her face, taking much of the make-up in their wake. Again, we invented a popular choice award."
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In the same piece, Gupta also alleged getting 'long, pained, hurtful' and 'boycott threats' calls from filmmaker Karan Johar because his film My Name Is Khan, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, had not received any nominations. (ALSO READ - Veteran Journalist Alleges Karan Johar Made 'Long, Pained, Hurt Calls' And 'Boycott Threats' After My Name Is Khan Received NO Nominations At An Award Show)
image source: instagram/katrinakaif ; APH