Ashutosh Gowariker to Priyanka Chopra: 'I don't know how you got the Best Actress award' [Throwback]

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra Jonas are certainly two beautiful and talented actresses and proud 'Miss World' titleholders as well. Although the two ladies are considered actresses from two different eras, there was a time when filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker insulted Priyanka on a public platform for Aishwarya.

It was during 2009 IIFA awards when Priyanka had won the Best Actress award for her performance in Fashion. Aishwarya too was nominated in the same category for Jodha Akhar, directed by Ashutosh. However, Priyanka walked away with the award and it did not go down well with the filmmaker.

Moments after PeeCee had collected her award and returned to her seat, Ashutosh went up the stage to accept Best Director award for Jodha Akbar. To everyone's surprise, the first thing Ashutosh uttered after grabbing the mic was, "Priyanka I love you, but I don't know how you got the award for Best Actress when Aishwarya was also nominated in the same category for Jodhaa Akbar."

After making the controversial statement, the director may have realised that he went a little too far, and in an attempt to dilute the situation, he had said, "Maybe it is because you are very hard-working and she is a natural". He had even dragged Aishwarya's mother-in-law Jaya Bachchan in his speech by saying that even the veteran actress was asking him the same thing.

Furious Priyanka gave Abhishek-Aishwarya's after-event party a miss

Post this, Priyanka reportedly gave a miss to the after-event party that was held at Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya's suite. However, the Bajirao Mastani actress was discreet enough not to comment at that time but was apparently furious at Ashutosh Gowariker for questioning her talent at a public platform and had shared her displeasure with many of her close friends. 

Jaya Bachchan's clarification

While the director's shocking comments had stirred a lot of controversies then, a lot was talked about he "unnecessarily" dragging Jaya into the matter. However, Jaya had later clarified that she actually wanted him to raise the issue.

"First of all it is being presumed that Ashutosh unnecessarily mentioned my name regarding Aishwarya's omission from the awards. The fact is, I suggested he bring up the question on stage at IIFA. We were discussing why Aishwarya has not been given any award for Jodha Akbar and I suggested Ashutosh bring up the matter. So when he mentioned my name he wasn't doing anything wrong," Jaya had told IANS. However, she had also said that she had no objection in Priyanka winning the award, but wondered why Aishwarya's performance was ignored.