The International Indian Film Academy Awards, founded 12 years ago to showcase India’s movies to the world and build cross-cultural business relationships with other countries, has brought a flurry of stars including Mallika Sherawat, Anil Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Boman Irani, and superstar Shah Rukh Khana to Toronto.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, attending an IIFA press conference on Thursday, said “the song, the dance, the drama, the action withstanding … Bollywood is all about magic!’
“We have the second largest community of Indians living outside Canada… Canadians will soon know look at Shah Rukh Khan as Johnny Depp and Priyanka Chopra as the Angelina Jolie of Bollywood.”
Watch below the highlights of last year’s celebration in Sri Lanka:
An estimated 40,000 tourists have come to participate in the week long celebration and 24,000 people have bought tickets to see the show live this Saturday June 25 at the Rogers Centre. 700 million people are expected to watch the televised version of the event.
The winners of last Friday’s dance contest at Yonge-Dundas Square, Chase Constantino, 23, of Mississauga, and Kalpita Desai, 28, of Vancouver, will be performing at Saturday’s awards ceremony.
Indian consul general Preeti Saran hopes the event will boost the bilateral relations between India and Canada with Bollywood’s ‘midas touch’.
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