Saturday, June 9, 2001
F E A T U R E


Bollywood’s mega show in Sun City

For the second time in the history of Indian cinema, an international award extravaganza will be held in a foreign country. This time, stars of Hindi cinema will descend on Sun City in South Africa to celebrate a magical night of glamour. Huge TV crews with world-class technicians are already there for the big bassh on June 16, says Vimla Patil.

Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan

SATURDAY, June 16, 2001 will be yet another golden day in the history of the Indian film industry. Sun City, the huge, awesomely designed entertainment complex near Johannesburg in South Africa, will come to life with some of the most popular stars of Hindi cinema performing at the 5000-seat Super Bowl. Top stars — heart-throb Hrithik Roshan , sensual energy-oozing Urmila Matondkar and sizzling Karisma Kapoor — will dance to superhit songs of Hindi films of the year 2000-2001. This will be second IIFA (International Indian Film Awards) function, put together by Wizcraft International with support from Kelvinator, South African Airlines, Sun City, Price Waterhouse & Cooper, Neelkamal and a host of other sponsors.

The awards were instituted in 2000 by Wizcraft with the co-operation of several NRI promoters. The inspiration for the awards came from the Oscar nominations of celebrity directors like Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) andManoj Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense). With spokespersons like Amitabh Bachchan, the IIFA launched the awards at the Millennium Dome in London with stars from Hollywood and Bollywood coming together to celebrate their contribution to society and industry. Martial arts star Jackie Chan, the lovely Angelina Jolie, pop diva Kylie Minogue, Talvin Singh and Ashok Amritraj were present at the London show to witness the programme and give away awards to the winners.

 


The IIFA awards have been instituted for the best technical and popular performance categories. Members of the film industry vote for the winners in each category from among short-listed nominees as do Indian film viewers all over the world through an Internet site. According to the organisers, the Indian film industry is expanding at a phenomenal speed and the capacity of the industry to earn foreign exchange is unlimited.

Karisma Kapoor
Karisma Kapoor

The films which have been chosen for the best film category this year are: Dhadkan, Kaho Na Pyar Hai, Kya Kehna, Mission Kashmir and Mohabbatein. The nominees for the best actor category are: Akshay Kumar for Dhadkan, Anil Kapoor for Pukar, Hrithik Roshan for Kaho Na Pyar Hai, Sanjay Dutt for Mission Kashmir and Shah RukhKhan for Mohabbatein. The actresses in the running for the top honour of the year are: Karisma Kapoor for Fiza, Madhuri Dixit for Pukar, Preity Zinta for Kya Kehna, Shilpa Shetty for Dhadkan and Tabu for Astitva. In addition there are creative and technical awards which cover a gamut of other skills of film-making.

The awards ceremony will be accompanied by world-class entertainment, including dances by Hrithik Roshan, Karisma Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar. Other performers are Stereo Nation (Taz), African Footprints and others. South Africa is joining hands with India in making this global event a grand success. This year’s advisory board boasts of some of the best-known names of the Hindi film industry: Ramesh Sippy, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan,J.P. Dutta, David Dhawan, Pahlaj Nihalani, Yash Johar and Jeetendra Kapoor.

Urmila Matondkar
Urmila Matondkar

One of the highlights of the IIFAevent is that Sony Entertainment Television will telecast the show live in 120 countries to over 20 million people. The channel’s chief, Kunal Dasgupta, announced that their best technicians world-wide will converge on Sun City to ensure that the telecast is technically brilliant.

According Wizcraft Infinity, the 5000-strong audience will comprise top industrialists, social celebrities, film personalities from Hollywood and India and music and dance stars of world fame. Approximately 2000 tickets will be sold as a part of a holiday package in South Africa by South African Airways.

The 18-inch tall trophy is made of brass and is gold-plated. It is an artistic symbol of the sun, whose sparkling rays depict the navarasas or nine moods which rule the heart of all performing arts. The sun also represents the brilliance and creativity of the human mind. IIFA, according to its promoters and organisers, is the fruition of their dream to take Indian cinema well beyond Indian shores; to make it a world-recognised industry and to bring Bollywood on a par with Hollywood, which enjoys the position of being the numero uno film capital of the world.

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