The awards season is upon us, as is the clamour over whether these awards are rigged or not. Both sides of the argument have their vociferous backers, be it the likes of Ajay Devgn and Aamir Khan who regularly ignore award ceremonies, or a Shah Rukh Khan who will eagerly add to his rich treasure trove of awards. But is there really a consensus to this debate? Are stars attending award ceremonies only because they know they will win? Are the ones not turning up doing so as a case of sour grapes?

Farhan Akhtar, last week, waddled into the debate, rushing to the defence of these ceremonies. “When you attend awards every year, it is proof enough that you do believe in the people who are in the jury or the audience. I attend with the belief that it is a fair system. If I didn’t, I would have not attended,” Farhan, who’s got films like Don 2 and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in the running for this season’s awards, said at a city event recently.

For Ajay Devgn, however, it’s not reason enough. “I have never believed in awards, nor have I believed in attending the ceremonies. I’d rather have the applause of my fans,” Ajay, who’s not attended award ceremonies in ages, says. “The only credible award, according to me, is the National Award, and everything else can be ignored.” It’s a sentiment director Vikram Bhatt echoes. “I stopped believing in our awards many years ago. I want my films to make profits. Everything else is immaterial as long as that happens,” Bhatt says.

Film critic and trade analyst Vinod Mirani says the Indian awards can never be considered seriously enough unlike the Oscars do for Hollywood. “The Oscars really boost an actor’s worth in Hollywood. In India, we have had awards for about 60 years, but even today nobody takes them seriously. The organisers ensure everybody wins something or the other. And the ones who don’t win an award are called for performances, for which they get paid handsomely. Many even charge for appearances on stage,” says Mirani. “Nobody watches the awards thinking it rewards good performances. The viewers see it for the witty comments and the dances and the comperes and the ample stargazing the whole show offers them.”

That is what it all comes down to: A smartly packaged event, which offers you the best of everything in just the right measures. Only as long as you don’t fall into the trap of taking it too seriously.