Superhit film, Dangal seemed to have been kept out of the IIFA list owing to Aamir Khan’s well-known disdain for award shows.
The movie, which was widely loved by the people was kept out of the nominations for the best film of the year for the 18th edition of the IIFA Awards.
On the other hand, Neerja was crowned Best Film.
In a statement, the organisers of the IIFA Awards clarified that Dangal did not register itself in the voting procedure for nominations.
“So basically, in IIFA, forms are sent to various production houses. They fill those forms up and send it back to us. Those forms are then put out to the industry for voting and from there it becomes a nomination. So, Dangal has not sent their entry in. We would love Dangal to be a part of it. I think it’s a movie that’s broken all records. We love Aamir Khan and the two little girls. They did a great job. But unfortunately, they didn’t send their entry in. We feel sad,” read the statement from Andre Timmins, director of Wizcraft International which handles the IIFA weekend and the award ceremony.
Similarly, Akshay Kumar’s films, Airlift and Rustom, were also ignored in the IIFA nominations, for which the actor had won this year’s National Award for Best Actor.
The exclusion of Dangal provoked widespread criticism online. Tweets described the IIFA Awards as ‘fake’ and a ‘waste of time.’ IIFA chose not to speak on this issue.
The statement from Wizcraft International comes just days after Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani dismissed to the IIFA awards as “international farce.”
“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 said.
Despite being a commendable work not only in India, Dangal also earned well in China, where it is still running. Forbes has also placed it fifth on the list of highest-earning non-Hollywood films in the world.
