New Delhi: Brand ambassador of International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), Amitabh Bachchan, said on Tuesday that the aim of the organization while choosing a new location each time was meant to spread Bollywood awareness across the globe. "The idea really is to be as expansive as possible to reach various parts of the universe and go places which are relatively unheard of as far as Indian cinema is concerned and be able to carry our cinema there," said Amitabh Bachchan in a conference in New Delhi. Further, the superstar fully justified the judging pattern of IIFA, which has regularly been under scanner. "One of the uniqueness of IIFA is that our voting pattern is done by the film industry itself we don't take any personal decisions. The decisions and polling pattern is that we send out nominations to the entire film industry and the film industry comes on to the computer and then cast their votes. The results that you see and the awards which are given are the results that the film industry wants to see," Bachchan added.

Amitabh Bachchan shuns Australian honour

     Turning down an honorary doctorate from an Australian university to protest a recent spate of attacks on Indian students studying there, Bachchan said he could not bring himself to go for celebration in a country which has witnessed horrific acts against his own countrymen. "I just felt that a retrospective is like a celebration and to be going for my own celebration to a country or a region that has witnessed such horrific acts against my own countrymen to be not very ethical. I have very politely excused myself," Bachchan said. The attacks, which Indian media have called raced-based, have caused some diplomatic discomfort, with the Indian Government summoning the Australian Ambassador last week to convey its concern and urge action. The Prime Ministers of the two countries also discussed the attacks that have dominated newspaper and television headlines in India during the past week. Four Indian students were attacked with a screwdriver by a gang at a Melbourne party last weekend. One of the victims remains in hospital with serious injuries. Another Indian student was attacked in what appeared to be a robbery, and there were three other attacks in early May, including two on Indian taxi drivers.
-June 2, 2009