JAYA demands Best Actress Award for AISHWARYA

Bollywood award ceremonies have become the breeding ground for controversy. The organisers of one recent awards show were surprised when they received a late evening call from a senior actress (also wife of India's most respected movie star), beckoning them to her Juhu residence to discuss "an important matter". The actress, who had consented to being presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award the following day at their ceremony, insisted they show up without any delay. So off they went, unclear what to expect. Perhaps she wanted to suggest who she'd like to receive the award from. Perhaps she wanted to discuss her acceptance speech. With such assorted thoughts, two senior representatives of the ceremony landed up at the actress' home around 11 pm. They were promptly ushered into her private meeting room, where the actress appeared and asked them quite directly without any warning: "Who is winning the Best Actress Award?"

The lady hadn't had a film out in years. So it couldn't be that she wanted to be awarded in that category. What was it then? Well, they didn't have to wait long to find out. The actress is believed to have made it quite clear that if her daughter-in-law, a popular leading lady with multiple movie releases last year, wasn't being awarded Best Actress, there was no way she was going to turn up to collect her Lifetime Achievement Award.

She demanded that a call be made to the top boss. The call was made. The actress was told that votes were still being counted, but her daughter-in-law wasn't a frontrunner.

"Then you can present my award to someone else," she said with finality. The following day, the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to another senior star who reportedly agreed to accept at the last minute.