IIFA organisers say 'Dangal didn't send in an entry'

The makers of Dangal did not send in an entry for the film to the 18th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA), said the organisers in a statement released on Tuesday. The event, and the organisers, came under a lot of flak after critically appreciated films like Dangal (2017) and Airlift (2016) were excluded from the nominations. At the event, held in New Jersey's MetLife Stadium last week, Ram Madhvani's Neerja was judged to be the best film, while Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury walked away with the Best Director award.

It was the Central Board Of Film Certification's (CBFC) chief, Pahlaj Nihalani who called the incident an 'paid holiday'. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Nihalani said, "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.”

However, now the IIFA organisers issued a statement saying: "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. 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," said Andre Timmins, director, Wizcraft International.

Dangal, starring Aamir Khan in the lead, proved to be a critical and commercial success at the box office in 2017. The film also broke several box office records by becoming the first Indian film to earn more than Rs1,000 crore worldwide. However, Khan has claimed to not be a fan of award shows and often chooses not to attend them.

— With inputs from IIFA