Shah Rukh Khan is the king of the Ghanta Awards 2016.
The team behind Bollywood’s version of Hollywood’s Razzies, or the Golden Raspberries, have truly outdone themselves this time, boldly adding the 50-year-old superstar to the list of nominees for the Worst Actor award.
The sixth edition of the satirical show will be held in Mumbai tonight, in a ceremony that may lack the glitter and pomp of regular Indian award nights – but it promises to be far more exciting and fun – as it is hosted by top comedians with razor-sharp wit.
Radhika Vaz, Sanjay Rajoura, Neeti Palta and Manan Desai will present the nominations and deliver scathing observations on some of the worst films to have come out of Bollywood this year, and will bring a spin-off stand-up show to Dubai later this month, followed by Singapore and a tour of the subcontinent.
“What we do with the show is poke fun at the bad films that Bollywood has made,” said Gagan Takyar, the managing director of Invision Entertainment, which is organising the event. “It’s all done in good humour. It’s about bad choices.”
The Ghantas have 14 categories, including Worst Actor, Worst Actress, Worst Film, Most Controversial Controversy, WTF Was That? and Worst Couple. An online public vote decides on the winners.
SRK, who has been nominated for his role in the box-office dud Dilwale, is competing for the Worst Actor gong against top stars such as Ranbir Kapoor (Mumbai Velvet).
Each “ghanta” – which means “bell” in Hindi and is slang for “rubbish” – is presented in the form of a bell-shaped trophy. But don’t expect Shah Rukh Khan to make an appearance – it is rare for A-listers to attend, although previous nominees such as actors Sonam Kapoor and Ritesh Deshmukh have sportingly taken the stage to accept their gongs and give thanks.
While Takyar remains hopeful that SRK will show up, director Ashish R Mohan, whose film Welcome to Karachi has been nominated in two categories, has already confirmed attendance, as have actors Manish Paul and Arshad Warsi.
Explaining how the concept came about, Takyar says “it started with some film critics who got together and realised that there are so many bad films in Bollywood, and that they suffer the torture of going through all these films – that’s when the idea took shape”.
Actress and entrepreneur Shruti Seth, who is involved in marketing the Ghanta Awards, points out that such awards nights and stand-up shows do extremely well in Dubai, thanks to the huge Indian expat community. A case in point was the Times of India Film Awards in March.
“Bollywood is popular the world over – and the UAE has a sizeable Hindi-movie watching audience,” she says. “We thought it would be nice to take the award show to a closer country. There clearly seems to be a demand.
“Clearly there’s an audience that would like to come and see a show about Bollywood.”
While it is unlikely the Ghanta Awards will be accepted by Bollywood, it remains ever popular among audiences.
“Obviously we’re not being congratulatory – we are mocking [the stars and filmmaker] on some of the choices they’ve made,” she says.
“The best way to look at it is that if you are willing to take the joke, you come across as being more sporting.”
Takyar agrees. “Bollywood is warming up to the fact that Ghantas exist and we are here to stay for a bit.”
Visit theghantas.com to cast your votes; voting closes on May 15.
This year’s nominees
Worst Film
• Dilwale
• Shaandaar
• Roy
• Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
• Bombay Velvet
Worst Actor
• Shah Rukh Khan – Dilwale
• Ranbir Kapoor – Bombay Velvet
• Ritesh Deshmukh – Bangistan
• Arjun Rampal – Roy
• Arjun Kapoor – Tevar
Worst Actress
• Anushka Sharma – Bombay Velvet
• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Jazbaa
• Sunny Leone – Ek Paheli Leela and Kuch Kuch Locha Hai
• Sonam Kapoor – Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Dolly Ki Doli
• Sonakshi Sinha – Tevar
Worst Miscasting
• Karan Johar as a gangster in Bombay Velvet
• Jacqueline Fernandes as a filmmaker in Roy
• Ajay Devgn as an intelligent family man in Drishyam
Emraan Hashmi as an invisible man in Mr X
• Sunny Deol as an eligible bachelor in I love NY
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