Ram Gopal Varma wins big at 'Bajaate Raho' awards

By Prithwish Ganguly

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma finally won awards for box-office duds "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag" and "Nishabd" -- but he won't be thrilled about it.

Varma and several other celebrities were "honoured" with the 'Bajaate Raho' awards, hosted by a radio station, at a ceremony late on Monday.

Unlike Hollywood's Razzies, which poke fun at the Academy Awards, these awards take a dig at Bollywood, cricket and just about anything that hogged headlines.

Not surprisingly, the "winners" don't show up to accept their awards.

Varma had drawn flak for "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag", his ambitious remake of the 1975 film "Sholay," which nosedived at the box-office. The film won him a red boxing glove trophy in the 'Most hyped film before release' category.

The filmmaker also earned the 'Bravery' award for daring to make "Nishabd", which has a storyline similar to the 1955 novel "Lolita". Lead actor Amitabh Bachchan had also been nominated in the category for playing a man obsessed with his daughter's friend.

Lyricist Gulzar (mediocre lyrics) , composer Pritam (copied music), cricketer Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (on-field antics) were among the other celebrity winners of the night.

The city of Mumbai was "honoured" for rude taxi drivers, Delhi for its "killer" Blueline buses and Kolkata for harassment of women using public transport.