Superstar Amitabh Bachchan gave a miss to the much-publicised International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards press conference in New Delhi following a muscle sprain on Thursday evening.
The press conference, which was scheduled to begin at 11.30 am finally started at around 12.10 pm, only to disappoint the patiently waiting mediapersons with the announcement that Bachchan would not be addressing the meet.
One of the directors of IIFA awards announced that Bachchan had suffered a muscle sprain while exercising at a Mumbai gym and had decided to give the conference a skip.
The absence of the IIFA brand ambassador had its impact on the event as most mediapersons walked out of the event barely five minutes after the conference started.
At the event, the IIFA announced Jagmohan Mundhra's Provoked as the film to be premiered in Dubai on June 14, 2006.
Addressing mediapersons to announce the screening of the film at the IIFA, filmmaker Mundhra said, "Provoked is a kind of film I have been wanting to make for the last so many years. A film with big stars and dealing with an issue which concerns Indians living all over the world.
"In this sense, IIFA, which has a earlier screened critically acclaimed films like Lagaan, Aankhen, Yuva and Parineeta, is just the right platform for showcasing a film like Provoked which deals with a universal issue of domestic violence that concerns Indian women worldwide."
{{/usCountry}}"In this sense, IIFA, which has a earlier screened critically acclaimed films like Lagaan, Aankhen, Yuva and Parineeta, is just the right platform for showcasing a film like Provoked which deals with a universal issue of domestic violence that concerns Indian women worldwide."
{{/usCountry}}Mundhra's Provoked is the story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a battered Punjabi housewife and mother of two children. Unable to bear of her alcoholic husband, she takes revenge by setting him on fire.
Already screened at Cannes this year, the film has received rave reviews. Starring Aishwarya Rai in the lead role, the film also stars Nandita Das, Naveen Andrews and Miranda Richardson.
A host of celebrities from the Bollywood including the IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Yash Chopra, AR Rahman, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi and Ashok Amritraj will grace the IIFA awards presentation ceremony, to be held at the Dubai Airport expo on June 16.
Other features of this year's IIFA will be showcasing of films like Naseeruddin Shah's Yun Hota To Kya Hota, starring Naseeruddin Shah, his wife Ratna Pathak Shah, Ayesha Takia, Irrfan Khan and Jimmy Shergill.
Also unveiled before the media for the first time will be Karan Johar's much-awaited Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee, Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Preity Zinta.