Article-Shweta opts out of Balaji Awards

P rerna's not a nominee any more. We're talking about Shweta Tiwari who was previously one of the can- didates for the Best Actress Award for the Global TV Honours.. hosted by Balaji Telefilms. But since Kasauti Zindagi Kay is wrapping up, Tiwari, who has started work on another Bhojpuri film, opted out. Taking her place will be Divyanka Tripathi aka Vidya of Banoo Main Teri Dulhann. No bad blood Harsha Khanna, business head for Bal- aji Telefilms, refutes rumours of a rift between Tiwari and Ekta Kapoor. She does admit that when an actress is associated with a show for seven odd years, she's bound to feel upset when it finally winds up. "But Ekta and Shweta share a very good professional relation- ship," says Khanna. The top nominees will be performing with Shah Rukh Khan in the awards ceremony to be held on February 1 at Andheri Sports Complex. They include Prachi Desai (Kasamh Se), Sakshi Tanwar (Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki), Divyan- ka Tripathi and Rajshri Thakur (Saat Phere). Want to be first Wasn't the ceremony to be held in Dubai? Khanna says that the Dubai Shopping Festival coincided with the awards, mak- ing it difficult to find accommodation for the 400-odd guests. Couldn't it have been postponed to a later date then? "The Glob- al TV Honours is the first television awards this year and we'd like to keep it that way," is Khanna's reason. Aren't so many awards diluting the very concept of excellence in the field? Khanna counters, "Aren't there too many soaps too? The skill lies in making each of them look different." She adds that theirs is the only TV function that can boast about having roped in King Khan.