Piku producers almost lose life in an awards function

Here is a scene from an awards function this week that you will definitely not get to see on television. While Sneha Rajini of Sony Pictures was on stage receiving an award for Piku, a huge sandbag fell from overhead just inches away from where Ms Rajini stood.

Says a prominent invitee at the function, "We were all stunned. The sandbag missed the lady by a hairs breadth. If it had hit her, she wouldve lost her life."

This was not the only mishap, bordering on near-catastrophe that happened at the above awards function. Apparently, the fireworks during a performance by Sonakshi Sinha flew off the stage and ignited the carpet down below where the spectators sat stunned more by the unscheduled excitement than the pre-planned items.

At an earlier awards function this season, Alia Bhatts hand was burnt during her performance.

In the furious rush to get stars together for the multiplicity of awards functions, are the organizers flaunting safety rules?

Piku writer Juhi Chaturvedi, who was on stage with Sneha Rajani, says, "The sandbag fell very, very close to where we were standing. We were saved by divine intervention."

Are the awards functions flaunting safety rules in the hurry to catch the stars?

No wonder Vishal Bhardwaj spoke out recently against the awards functions and how they keep audiences waiting hungry and thirsty for many hours before the function actually starts.

Have the awards functions lost their relevance and become desperate television tamashas?

Says Juhi Chaturvedi, "Perhaps we are still celebrating films more for their collections rather than content. I am not sure that not attending these awards will be able to change this outlook. But, I agree with Vishal, in some way the message has to be conveyed that things are not right...At the awards function mentioned above, I sat famished for a few hours, just like everyone else."