The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards come to Bangkok this weekend for a three-day-long festival of cinema, fashion and glamour.
With the Olympian motto ‘One People, One World', the event, in its eighth year, will see the premiere of one of the summer's hottest movies (the Bachchan clan's Sarkar
Raj), a star-studded fashion show and, of course, an awards ceremony.
Aishwarya Rai, hubby Abhishek and the patriarch of Indian cinema Amitabh Bachchan are all expected on the green carpet (in honour of World Environment Day) on Friday
night to premiere their first collaboration, a gangster flick sequel to 2005's Sarkar.
The film comes out today in the UAE.
Dynamic filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is back in the director's seat, helming the young couple's first film together after their marriage.
The film had exclusive screenings at the Cannes festival, attended by the entire Bachchan family (mum Jaya included), with Aishwarya stealing the show with her unusual choice of outfits.
‘Inner beauty'
Despite her questionable fashion choices, Amitabh described her “ inner beauty as being more important than her much-publicised external beauty,"at a recent IIFA press
conference at Bangkok.
Fashion-challenged Ash might want to stick around for the following day's event, when the bright young things of Indian cinema will get a chance to shine on the catwalk.
Indian designer Rohit Bal will showcase his designs, but Bollywood fans will actually be on the lookout for his models Love 2050 stars Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja.
Other stars
Plenty of other Bollywood stars will hit the ramp, including Vidya Balan and Viviek Oberoi, Ayesha Takia, Aftab Shivdasani as well as newcomers like Shweta Bharadwaj.
The show will be hosted by director and TV celebrity Karan Johar.
A special feature of the Bangkok show will be the first exhibition of an exclusive line for IIFA, called ‘BLING', a range by three young designers Vikram Phadnis, Renu Chopra and Bina Kapoor.
Phadnis, who will direct his first film soon, uses intense colours like red, fuchsia, violet, emerald green, and also a monochrome shine, to resurrect the rich colours and
textures of “Amazing Bangkok”.
The cast of the upcoming film De Taali Aftab Shivdasani, Riteish Deshmukh and Ayesha Takia — will walk the ramp for Phadnis. But after all the build-up, Bollywood fans are really just waiting for one thing: the awards night, which, unlike the disappointingly dry Hollywood ceremonies, will feature plenty of performances, singing and dancing.
The films in competition are the top productions of last year massive hits, including Guru, Chak de India, Om Shanti Om, Life … in a Metro and Jab We Met.
The stars of all the movies in competition, and many more, will be in Bangkok for the IIFA weekend with one notable exception.
It's expected that Shah Rukh Khan the star of Chak de India and Om Shanti Om will not be attending. Is his rivalry with Amitabh to blame? It's almost certain that one of his films will win an award, so the only losers in this case will be the fans.
Shah Rukh might skip Bangkok
Just like last year, Shah Rukh Khan is unlikely to attend this year's International Indian Film Academy Awards, which comes to Bangkok after travelling through three
continents, six countries and eight cities, over a period of eight years. Is Amitabh Bachchan the reason?
Khan boycotted IIFA in Dubai 2006, and Yorkshire last year because he was holidaying with his kids at that time. This year, too, the IIFA in Bangkok is coinciding with the school vacations of SRK's kids. And the superstar is again thinking of skipping the event.
However, it is speculated in tinsel town that SRK is boycotting the event because Big B is IIFA's brand ambassador. The last time SRK attended IIFA was in Amsterdam in 2005 when things were hunky dory between King Khan and Big B.
SRK's absence from the three-day event this weekend will take the glitz out of IIFA because he is very popular among the Asian crowds and two of his films Chak De India and Om Shanti Om are among the favourites to win.
But we wonder: if SRK was holidaying in London when IIFA was in Dubai, why can't he holiday in Bangkok this and attend the event. SRK knows the answer.
By the way, it is confirmed that this year's IIFA will see the presence of other big Bollywood stars like Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor
and Saif Ali Khan among others. But SRK will certainly be missed.
Akki-kat to rock IIFA
Bollywood bad boy Salman Khan is puffing and fuming for being left out of the IIFA ceremony in Bangkok, as the organisers have gone ahead and chosen the hit pair of
Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif to perform together.
This purr-fect onscreen couple will team up for the IIFA finale in Bangkok and their performance is expected to be a head
turner, all thanks to the innumerable rumours regarding their real life chemistry. Apparently, Akki-Kat will be seen together for a promotional performance of their forthcoming release Singh is Kinng.
This will not be the first time that the actors will be seen performing together at an award function and this has obviously not gone too well with the angry loverboy Salman. Do we need to ask why?
Save the planet
IIFA announced its green agenda at its awards ceremony last year in Yorkshire, UK, launching the world's first-ever green-carpet event, and plans to continue its efforts this year, with green carpets at all the ceremonies.
The film, called Global Cool, screened last year will also be screened this year. IIFA has launched the Green Globe
Foundation this year and is working with the United Nations Environment programme.
A film on climate change, with appearances from Amitabh Bachchan, Sienna Miller, Heather Graham, and former British prime minister Tony Blair, was premiered last year. The film, called Global Cool, will also be screened at the event this year.
IIFA brings bollywood to the world
Every IIFA event has given a big boost to Bollywood cinema, and in particular in the country where the event was held.
“When the first IIFA event — in 2000 — was held at the Millennium Dome, London, the sales of tickets for Indian movies in the city grew by 35 per cent after the event.
The following year, the event was held at Sun City in South Africa. Ster Kinekor, the largest distributor and exhibitor in the country, started distributing Hindi films, until then restricted to matinee shows on the weekends. Two hundred Indian films have been screened there since.
IIFA was held at Genting Highlands, Malaysia, in 2002, which led to a 50 per cent increase in the sale of non-pirated versions of Hindi films.
The IIFA event was held in South Africa again in 2003, this time in Johannesburg. Nu Metro, who own 250 screens, began showing Hindi films and have shown 70 films to
date.
Singapore was the host city in 2004, leading to a mega joint-production between the two countries — Krrish.
Even Dubai has hosted IIFA, in 2006.
Highlights
-Performances by Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Govinda.
- Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja will showcase Harry Baweja's Love Story 2050.
- The De Taali team of Aftab Shivdasani, Riteish Deshmukh and Ayesha Takia and the Mission Istanbul cast of Zayed Khan, Viveik Oberoi and Shreya Saran promise to set
the stage on fire.
- Acid Factory, a film that has just begun production, will share its first screening with a performance by Diya Mirza, Fardeen Khan, Dino Morea and Aftab Shivdasani.
- The Global Business Forum will be attended by heavyweights from Thailand and the Indian business fraternity.
- IIFA will honour Nobel Peace Prize laureate and climate change scientist Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri.
-The much-awaited Sarkar Raj will be premiered on Friday.
-The show will be hosted by Karan Johar.
