‘Sapta Sagaradaache Ello’ director Hemanth Rao, who was made to wait till 3 am, calls IIFA disrespectful

Looks like IIFA didn’t vibe with everyone this year. Acclaimed Kannada filmmaker Hemanth M Rao didn’t hold back on social media, calling out the IIFA (International Indian Film Academy Awards) in a fiery Instagram post. The director behind the critically-acclaimed Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A and Side B) spilled some major tea, accusing IIFA of straight-up disrespecting him by making him wait till 3 a.m. without any recognition.

Hemanth M Rao's fiery Instagram post

Rao’s rant wasn’t just a quick diss; it was a full-on essay about how the industry needs to do better. This comes right after the buzz of IIFA Utsavam 2024, where stars like Aishwarya Rai and Mani Ratnam took home major wins. But it looks like not everyone’s feeling the love.

The 2024 IIFA were hosted in Abu Dhabi over the weekend, celebrating the finest of Bollywood as well as the four south industries of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. The award presentation for south films, known as IIFA Utsavam, contained awards in all four languages, however the categories were inconsistent, as various Instagram users noted.

Industry needs to do better - Hemanth M Rao

Hemanth Rao expressed his dissatisfaction with the IIFA experience on Instagram on Sunday night, referring to it as "a massive inconvenience" and "extremely disrespectful." Even though he had been in the business for more than 10 years and had attended numerous award shows, he noted that this specific event stuck out for all the wrong reasons. He claims that although it's standard procedure for winners to be flown in and hosted for the event, he waited until three in the morning to learn that there was no prize in this instance. To underscore how awful the entire IIFA was, he added that his music director, Charan Raj, experienced the same thing.

Not bitter about fellow director's win

In his statement, Hemanth made it clear that he is not upset over fellow Kannada director Arun Sudhir's victory. "Just to clarify, I am completely fine with @tharunsudhir winning. Good luck to him and his crew. "This is more about how my time and energy were wasted," he added.

His post resonated with fans, who flooded the comments with both praise and criticism of the IIFA. When Kaatera won for best song, one fan commented that the awards were clearly rigged, arguing that prizes should represent quality rather than popularity. Another fan agreed, stating they should be called out and emphasising that they are there to support true art, noting that these commercial prizes are a joke.?