Sheela not at fault

Sheela now finds herself getting hounded by an old controversy that took place about two months ago. This one is about her absence at the Thiruvananthapuram's film festival last year.

At the 11th International Film Festival held at Thiruvananthapuram, the organizers had arranged for a special ceremony to honor the senior actors and actresses in Malayalam. As part of it, Sheela too was invited. But the veteran actress didn't turn up at the function.

Sheela said that she was in Thiruvananthapuram from the 1st till the 10th of December last year. Her boarding and lodging expenses were paid by the producer of 'Velutha Katrina', the megaserial that she is starring in. The government didn't pay anything towards her expenses.

"The ceremony was held on the 8th of December. A day or two before the function, someone called from the Academy and informed over the phone that they wanted me to participate in it. I told them that I want some representative to come in person with the invitation. I didn't want to end up in some prank. But nobody bothered to show up on the sets of my serial and invite me. One day, I returned to my hotel room late at night and I had almost fallen asleep. I got a call from the reception saying that someone is waiting to meet me.

"I didn't think it was right to meet someone so late at night. So I asked the receptionist to tell him to come and meet me the next day. The person failed to turn up the next day. I didn't hear anything from the organizers again. That was why I didn't go to the function either.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked.