After actor Varun Dhawan, filmmaker Karan Johar on Wednesday apologised for his “nepotism rocks” act at the IIFA Awards in New Jersey that created a stir on social media last week.

Karan, the son of late filmmaker Yash Johar, along with actors Varun and Saif Ali Khan, took a jibe at actress Kangana Ranaut by bringing up the nepotism debate at the awards gala. 

Later, they received flak on social media with Twitteraties calling their act “disappointing”.

While Varun apologised for the act on Twitter on Tuesday, Karan said that he also feels that it’s talent that rocks and not nepotism.

“Of course, I don’t believe that ‘nepotism rocks’. Of course, I believe that only talent rocks. If anything that rocks, it’s your talent, hard work and conviction. It’s the energy you bring to your job,” Karan said in an interview with NDTV news channel.

“What we said was meant to be a joke, which I think has been misplaced, misunderstood and I think it went wrong. I regret it,” he added.

Karan also said that it was entirely his idea.

“The idea of that joke was entirely mine, so I take onus of the idea of what we said. And I think we went a bit too far with the Kangana mention,” Karan said.

Karan and Saif, who were hosting the gala, revisited the much-talked about nepotism issue that started in Bollywood when Kangana branded Karan as a “flagbearer of nepotism” on his chat show “Koffee With Karan” earlier this year.

“No matter what I say or feel about my issues with what Kangana said on my talk show ‘Koffee With Karan’, I think I was raised to be a dignified, a chivalrous and a decent person. That’s the upbringing that I was given and I feel that I failed on those accounts,” Karan said.

“I felt that no matter what my thoughts or personal issues are on this, I should not have repeatedly brought that up. For that, I’m deeply regretful,” he added.

When Varun joined the two celebrities on stage at the Metlife Stadium to receive the Best Performance in a Comic Role for “Dishoom”, Saif joked that the actor had made it big in the industry because of his father.

“You are here because of your papa,” Saif quipped.

Varun said: “And you’re here because of your mummy (veteran actress Sharmila Tagore).”

Karan then promptly added: “I am here because of my papa (late filmmaker Yash Johar).”

They then said in unison: “Nepotism rocks.”

While addressing the charge of nepotism, Karan said: “I want to once and for all say and close this chapter after this and subsequently I will not speak about nepotism nor Kangana because it would be distasteful for her and it would be ungraceful at my end, which I’ve already been. 

“Nepotism is easy access, nobody can deny that, but what you do with that access is what moulds you into a professional.”

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IANS

Actor Varun Dhawan has apologised for his “Nepotism rocks” act at the IIFA Awards in New Jersey, that created a stir over social media last week.

Varun, son of veteran filmmaker David Dhawan, along with filmmaker Karan Johar and actor Saif Ali Khan, sparked the controversy over the nepotism debate at the awards gala. Later, all three of them received flak on social media with twitteraties calling their act “disappointing”.

“I express my apology and regret… I am extremely sorry if I have offended or hurt anyone with that act,” Varun tweeted on Tuesday.

Karan and Saif, who were hosting the gala, revisited the much-talked about nepotism issue that started in Bollywood when actress Kangana Ranaut branded Karan as a “flagbearer of nepotism” on his chat show “Koffee With Karan”.

When Varun joined the two actors on stage at the Metlife Stadium to receive the Best Performance in a Comic Role for “Dishoom”, Saif joked that the actor had made it big in the industry because of his father.

“You are here because of your papa,” Saif quipped.

Varun said: “And you’re here because of your mummy (veteran actress Sharmila Tagore).”

Karan then promptly added: “I am here because of my papa (late filmmaker Yash Johar).”

They then said in unison: “Nepotism rocks”.

Later on, a string of criticism followed over Twitter, describing what the personalities said was unfunny and joking about Kangana in her absence was unfair. 

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IANS

At the IIFA Awards Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh again reaffirmed themselves as Bollywood’s ‘power couple’. Not only did both grab the best actor awards in their respective categories but also Ranveer put all rumours of a lover’ tiff to rest. After winning the Best Actor award for Bajirao Mastani, he thanked rumoured ladylove Deepika Padukone, admitting that she makes him the happiest and hoped that she wins in the Best Actress category.

That she did, for an outstanding performance in Shoojit Sarkar’s Piku. The other highlight of the IIFA Awards also involved Deepika. Fawad Khan, who was hosting a small segment in Madrid, tried to woo Deepika by singing ‘roop tera mastana…’ and told the actress to rate his performance. To which Deepika got down on her knees and proposed to him instead, a true fun moment of this year’s IIFA Awards.

Not just the stage, Deepika Padukone ruled the green carpet as well along with Priyanka Chopra, Sonakshi Sinha and Shilpa Shetty Kundra.

The Spanish city of Madrid played host to the 17^th edition of the International Indian Film Academy Awards. The cream of the film industry came together to celebrate the best Bollywood films of 2015. The funny duo of ‘Raju and Pappu’ enacted by Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar scored a hat-trick as hosts.

From taking a dig at the censor board to last year’s National Award returning controversy, nobody was spared by Shahid and Farhan.

A Bajirao Mastaani Night

Bajirao Mastaani swept all the top awards. Apart from Ranveer Singh bagging the best actor award, Sanjay Leela Bhansali collected the Best film and best director award for the film. He received the award from his lead actors Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra. “No other film of mine has got so much love like Bajirao. I am surprised to see how it has done so well this awards season. It is a special moment for me to get these awards by my three favorite actors. I don’t want to thank anyone for the film because a ‘thank you’ is not enough,” he said.

Dum Laga ke Haisha dominated the music categories with Papon winning best male playback singer for Moh Moh Ke Dhaage and National Award winner Monali Thakur bagged the best female playback singer for the same song. Varun Grover won his first IIFA for best lyrics also for the same song. The best music composer award went to Meet Bros, Amaal Malik and Ankit Tiwari for Roy.

The best Jodi of the Year was awarded to the stars of Hero – Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty, who thanked Salman Khan for giving them a break in the film industry.

List of IIFA Award Winners:

Best Director – Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Bajirao Mastani

Best Film – Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Best Actor – Ranveer Singh for Bajirao Mastani

Best Actress – Deepika Padukone for Piku

Best Supporting Actress – Priyanka Chopra for Bajirao Mastani

Best Supporting Actor – Anil Kapoor for Dil Dhadakne Do

Best Story – Juhi Chaturvedi for Piku

Special Award for Woman of The Year – Priyanka Chopra

Special Award for Woman of The Year – Priyanka Chopra

Best Debut Couple Award – Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty

Best Performance in a Negative Role – Darshan Kumaar for NH10

Best Performance in Comic Role – Deepak Dobriyal for Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Best Debut (Female) – Bhumi Pednekar for Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Best Debut (Male) – Vicky Kaushal for Masaan

Best Playback Singer (Female) – Monali Thakur for Moh Moh Ke Dhaage from Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Best Playback Singer (Male) – Papon for Moh Moh Ke Dhaage from Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Best Lyrics – Varun Grover for Dum Laga Ke Haisha

When there is Salman Khan, there is sarcasm. The same happened again during one of the press briefing at the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) in Madrid, when Salman gaged Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone.

The press conference was also the trailer launch of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Mirzya. Salman had actually missed the trailer, so he asked for a replay. To watch the trailer he left the podium, and asked everyone including Shahid Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and others to sit with him.

Everyone except Deepika and Priyanka left the stage. The two actresses were busy have a conversation on the stage. And the Dabang star took no time in making fun of them big time.

“These two ladies have now gone abroad, doing Hollywood movies,” Salman joked. “They don’t have anything to do with Indian cinema now.”

Both Priyanka and Deepika are making quite a buzz in Hollywood. While Priyanka’s TV series Quantico is making waves and she has also recently wrapped up shooting of Baywatch with Dwayne Johnson.

Deepika, meanwhile, is set for her international debut with Vin Diesel’s XXX: The Return of Xander Cage. She hoped that more actors from Bollywood will be able to plunge into Hollywood for mainstream roles, instead of small roles, which were also offered to her.

“I have been offered roles in the past itself but I don’t think I was ready and I don’t think I was excited enough,” Deepika said. “As an actor I don’t think I was ready for the challenge before.”

“You have to look everything that you get as an opportunity,” she added. “There is no role that’s too small or big. It is all about what you make of the opportunity.”