Rivals on screen Amitabh

New Delhi, Apr 23 (UNI) Yesteryears' on screen rivals Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha are again at loggerheads, this time in real life.

Shortly after 'Shotgun', as Shatrughan Sinha is known in the film industry, made a comment over the nomination for the IIFA awards( of which Amitabh Bachchan is a brand ambassador) that 'Sab kissika beta hai, ya kissiki bahu, ya kissiki biwi', Bachchan , in a comment posted on his website, said,''I believe what is being insinuated is that there is partiality or some 'fixing' in the choice of the nominations carried by the awards committee.

And as the report concluded, the indication was towards one family, not difficult to guess which one.'' Reacting to the IIFA awards committee not nominating the critically acclaimed film 'Taare Zameen Par' in the awards, considered as the Indian counterpart of the Oscars, Sinha had reportedly stated that the award does not really have any credibility and it was alright that 'Taare Zameen Par' was not nominated.

Commenting on Sinha's observation, Amitabh wrote,''I am surprised at this observation, especially since, during the time of the National Award selection for Best Actress in one of the past years, when the award went to Raveena Tandon, it was alleged that Mr Shatrughan Sinha's wife, the lovely and graceful Poonam, a great friend of Raveena's mother had recommended the appointment of MacMohan, the brother of Raveena's mother, on the board of the Jury ( Structured by the Government in power - in this case the BJP, of which Mr Sinha was a Minister of State ) in order that he may cast his vote in favour of Raveena Tandon. If this alleged story is true then I do value Mr Shatrughan Sinha's alleged statement of "Sab kissika beta, kissiki beti, kissiki biwi" - You are so right, Shatru'' ''Of course this does not take anything away from Raveena's very deserving Award - she has been a wonderful and talented co-artiste in many films of mine, or, MacMohan, the Sambha of 'Sholay', who has remained a dear friend and has worked with me in several films. As has Mr Shatrughan Sinha.'' On a more personal note, Bachchan said,''I have seen some very encouraging reports of the film, where your son is being introduced in this great Industry. May he prosper and succeed even more than his illustrious father and may he never have to face a slighted accusation of 'fixing', when his name comes up for an award in the future'' Reacting to Amitabh's statement, Shatrughan said,''Anger seems to have taken over the maturity of an actor like Amitabh Bachchan and that is probably the reason he has overreacted to my statement with regards to Taare Zameen Par. If I recall I have not taken any names and there are a number of film families in this industry. I really don't know why he thinks it is his family I am talking about.'' Asked for his comment on the statement by Bachchan that Raveena Tandon got the award only because Sinha's wife is a good friend of the actress, Sinha said,''That is exactly the point I am trying to drive home. But having said that there is one point I really would want to make here. I agree my hand was there in the award, but it was not like Mulayam's feet, which was there in every award the Uttar Pradesh government has bestowed only on one family. And one can easily guess which family I am talking about.'' It is notable that ever since Amitabh made a mark in Bollywood in the 70s with films like 'Zanzeer', 'Deewar' and 'Sholay', he and Shatrughan have been considered as rivals on the Bollywood skyway, what with both of them owing their fame to their action hero and angry young man persona on screen. In fact, Shatrughan Sinha is among the few contemporaries of Bachchan who is know to have given a tough competition to the Big B, especially in films like 'Shaan', 'Dostana', 'Naseeb' and 'Kaala Pathar' where both Big B and shotgun shared screen space.

In politics too, both cotested from rival platforms - while Amitabh chose to make his brief political debut from the Congress, shotgun chose to contest on the a BJP ticket.

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