We challenge Ektaa Kapoor or

When Ektaa Kapoor called Anu and Shashi Ranjan 'liars', most in the entertainment industry were shocked and appalled. Seniors from the industry attended the press conference to vindicate the selection process of the Hero Honda Indian Television Academy (HHITA) award.

"I challenge Ektaa to show proof of her receiving even one phone call from Shashi in the last six years and any calls post 7.30 pm on November 23 from me and if she can't, then, I demand a public apology from her," says Anu on Ektaa's claims that the duo kept calling her when six actors expressed their inability to perform at the HHITA award night. "We immediately replaced them with Mandira Bedi, Rohit Roy, Karan Wahi, Jasweer Kaur, Aman Verma and Karishma Tanna and frankly, these celebs only enhanced our show," adds Anu.

On Star TV refusing to be the telecast partner if their shows weren't picked as winners, Anu rubbishes it saying, "Over the years we have rotated our telecast partners from Sony, Doordarshan, Star and now Zee, for the simple reason of not succumbing to any pressure in the jury deciding the winners. We have a no-objection from Star in September so there are no issues with them."

'We never expected Ektaa to attend because she had informed us 25 days in advance that she would be in Delhi. And we don't change the date of our event for any one individual. When she slaps a case against Salil Ankola on the basis of a contract, then it is legitimate but when we do the same, we become liars. She says the actors had urgent scenes to shoot but all the actors were seen for hours at an event the day before HHITA." says Anu.

"When these actors slog for 365 days to help you become big, then no one has the right to take away their four minutes of glory from them. We request all our nominees to come or send their representatives but it's a shame when their moment of glory is snatched away from them," says Anu.

'My aim is to never compromise on the standards of credibility that we have so painstakingly established over the last six years. I had forbidden Anu to yield to Ektaa's threats to withdraw if not given the winners list. When she didn't hear from us, she panicked and messaged Anu, 'All actors are ready" but we weren't interested,' says Shashi.

"She is questioning the integrity of the jury. Can anyone miss Ektaa when you have Vineet Jain, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sreenivasn Jain, Rajiv Shukla, Cinevista, Optimistyx, Jeetendra, J P Dutta, Raakesh Roshan and more than 500 top representatives from the industry? ITA is an industry platform and one Ektaa cannot turn it in to an Ektaa platform," lambasts Shashi.

"Ektaa is sliding and getting nervous and merely making her actors the pawn in her filthy game. I request her to keep her filth away from us. It's time she learnt that she cannot continue running her business like a mafia. When she is so desperate for awards, I wonder what she must be doing to get the TRPs in her favour. This aspect needs to be looked into," signs off Shashi.

t_usha@dnaindia.net
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1067060