It was Bachchan's decision, not IIFA

20 January 2011 08:33 am Views - 8173

The brand ambassador of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Amitabh Bachchan did not want to attend the last year’s IIFA event in Sri Lanka, The Times of India reported quoting a source.

The inside story is that Bachchan was extremely hurt by IIFA's decision to hold the awards last year in Sri Lanka. Says a source, "He did not want to be associated with them anymore."

Explaining what led to Bachchan's fallout with IIFA, our source said, "Without taking Bachchan's opinion, they not only held the event in Sri Lanka but also signed up Salman Khan to host it. These awards were Bachchan's baby, and hence he was terribly hurt."

When Wizcraft declared Sri Lanka as the venue for IIFA 2010, Tamil groups started a protest and asked everyone to either boycott the awards or change the venue. According to them, Sri Lanka needed to be shunned as their military officials had killed Tamils in large numbers last year in the war that led to the decimation of the Tamil Tigers.

The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce announced a boycott of Colombo by southern actors and filmmakers and said it would shun the Bollywood actors who would choose to go to Sri Lanka. Thereafter, IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, his son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya along with Shah Rukh Khan and many others stayed away from the event.

According to our source, there were no financial issues between Bachchan and IIFA. "Bachchan is too classy to crib about financial issues. He is a man of words. Loyalty comes to him ahead of anything else."

Added our source, "How can IIFA say 'No' to Bachchan? His popularity cuts across all generations. In fact, they kept coming back to him. They tried their best to persuade him to continue with them, but Bachchan was adamant. He told them politely but firmly that he was not interested in the association anymore."

Then why did Bachchan claim that IIFA did not need his services anymore? "Arre, that's his style. He has never been a man who has been too vocal about his feelings," said the source.

And why is IIFA saying that they will never replace Bachchan? "That's simply because they are still coaxing him to attend their press conferences and social dos. But here again, Bachchan has decided that he shall stay away."

We got in touch with IIFA director Saba Joseph, who said, "I think Mr. Bachchan's Twitter message and our press note are very clear. Leave it at that. We have no further comments." Bachchan did not respond to our text messages, the Times of India reported.