Varun Dhawan apologises for 'nepotism' barb

Varun, son of veteran filmmaker David Dhawan, along with filmmaker Karan Johar and actor Saif Ali Khan, sparked the controversy over the nepotism debate at the awards gala. Later, all three of them received flak on social media with twitteraties calling their act "disappointing".

"I express my apology and regret... I am extremely sorry if I have offended or hurt anyone with that act," Varun tweeted on Tuesday. On Monday night, he tacked on a 'sorry if I let anyone down' to a tweet about how 'amazing' it was to perform at the IIFA Awards. Kangana is not mentioned in either tweet - she wasn't named on stage either but there was little doubt who Varun Dhawan, Karan Johar and Saif Ali Khan had in mind when they chanted 'nepotism rocks.'

Karan and Saif, who were hosting the gala, revisited the much-talked about nepotism issue that started in Bollywood when actress Kangana Ranaut branded Karan as a "flagbearer of nepotism" on his chat show 'Koffee With Karan'.

When Varun joined the two actors on stage at the Metlife Stadium to receive the Best Performance in a Comic Role for Dishoom, Saif joked that the actor had made it big in the industry because of his father.

"You are here because of your papa," Saif quipped.

Varun said: "And you're here because of your mummy (veteran actress Sharmila Tagore)." Karan then promptly added: "I am here because of my papa (late filmmaker Yash Johar)."

They then said in unison: "Nepotism rocks".

Later on, a string of criticism followed over Twitter, describing what the personalities said was unfunny and joking about Kangana in her absence was unfair.