With award ceremonies becoming a dime-a-dozen and some of them mere self-appreciation societies, it's time to call a spade a spade. The annual Ghanta Awards aim to do just that

Inspired by the Razzies, which honours the worst in Hollywood, the Ghanta Awards were started in 2010 by film critic Karan Anshuman and Prashant Rajkhowa. In its third year now, they have found wide support amongst filmgoers with tickets to the awards selling within hours and trending worldwide on Twitter. But they continue to receive a cold shoulder from the filmmakers.

`The Hindi film industry isn't really known for laughing at itself,` laments Anshuman.


`However, Uday Chopra tweeted saying he was most excited about winning the Worst Actor award in the first year. Also, we had once asked Rakhi Sawant to be our chief guest. She did pause and consider it for a moment before declining,` he laughs.

This, however, has not deterred the duo. `We felt terrible that we hadn't acknowledged Bollywood in any way considering how prolific we were at producing garbage,` laughs Anshuman. `Out of the 400-odd Bollywood movies released in a year, there are rarely more than five quality films. Movies can't be pure business. They need heart. And there isn't enough going around,` he says.


This year's nominees consist of most members of the 100-crore club, with Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn being favourites for Ek Tha Tiger, Rowdy Rathore, Housefull 2, Joker, Khiladi 786 and Son of Sardaar respectively.

A look at the `WTF was that` category and an eyebrow or two is sure to be raised. Most of the shortlisted films have picked up prestigious awards, but at the Ghanta's, it doesn't matter who you are. The jury, consists of film critic Rajeev Masand, Sudhish Kamath and Sahil Rizwan apart from Anshuman himself.

Their website is already abuzz with speculation as to who will take home the top honours this year.

It's not that Anshuman hates Hindi films. He admits that Bollywood does produce some quality movies too. `Gangs of Wasseypur, Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar, Vicky Donor and even the mainstream Ekk Main Aur Ekk Tu are all good films in my book,` he says.


As a pleasant surprise, Sonam Kapoor turned up last year to accept her worst actress award. `Suddenly she became the only 'cool' person in Bollywood, one who could take a bit of humour and laugh at her own self. Twitter was abuzz with other actors saluting her,` says Anshuman. Incidentally, this year too Kapoor has earned herself two nominations thanks to her role in Players.