Football Stars at IIFA 2009

IIFA Awards 2009 will kick off with Football stars John Terry and Frank Lampard

IIFA is back and so are the stars, the glamour, the performances and some light hearted moments. Starting from 11th June in Macau, it will end with the award ceremony on the 13th.

But its time to rejoice for you football fanatics as ace Chelsea footballers John Terry and Frank Lampard too will be at the event.

Last year's host, Ritesh Deshmukh and Boman Irani will host the show this year too.
Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Sonam Kapoor are all set to sizzle the stage with their performances.

As usual the grand affair will see not less than 500 luiminaries form Bollywood film industry to witness this extravaganza.

Amitabh and IIFA Association

The year - 2007, the city - London, the venue - House of Commons. IIFA Brand Ambassador Mr. Amitabh Bachchan was to give a welcome speech and announce the IIFA Yorkshire 2007 and meet the then Prime Minister of the UK, Mr. Tony Blair.

Channel Four, BBC, GM TV, all the top broadcast channels from the UK ready to pan the mighty Big B as he strides in along with the Minister of Culture Tessa Jowell, Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Office Keith Vaz, Lord Swaraj Paul, NRI Industrialist and British Ambassador
for Overseas Business, Indian High Commissioner Kamlesh Sharma, and scores of members of both houses of Parliament. What followed were some memorable speeches made by the dignitaries, a photo call, handling of the Big B with Big Ben picture and the famous Tony Blair
speech.

The Brand Ambassador speech was the most endearingly likeable. He had to say: "About fifty sixty years ago, acting in films was not considered an honourable profession and many families in fact disapproved of their children taking to acting. But today it is a matter of pride that I am being showered with love and affection in this August House, mainly because of the eminence and appreciation the Indian films have earned in the overseas."

The conference got over and I was told to travel to Yorkshire in the same train in which Mr Bachchan was travelling to announce the IIFA awards up north. He has worked to take IIFA where it has reached now.

A great moment. The torch bearer Bachchan was busy then and is doubly busy now as the IIFA gets set to take Macau by storm in what's said to be the golden decade for the IIFA. His speeches, his humorous remarks, his dazzling performances on stage, him honouring the Lifetime Achievers and many more such instances makes IIFA worth it's wait, and no matter what people say about the IIFAs, for me, it's about this one man Amitabh Bachchan, who has lifted the IIFA torch with utmost pride, passion and conviction since a decade.

A man, who is admired, loved and worshipped the world over for his undeniable support towards the Indian Film Industry - the larger than life Amitabh Bachchan.Await him at the 10th Anniversary of IIFA.

Special Awards Nominees at IIFA 2009

Celebrating its tenth year, IIFA Academy will bestow a special set of Awards to commemorate the last decade of Indian Cinema from 1999-2009.

Therefore, celebrating the best of the best, it has put together nominations in five major categories for The Videocon IIFA Golden Decade Honours which will be announced at the IDEA IIFA Awards on the 13th of June, in Macau.

The five categories are Star of the Decade – Male, Star of the Decade
– Female, Movie of the Decade, Director of the Decade and Music of the
Decade.

The nominations are listed here.
Star of the decade – Male: Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan.
Star of the decade: Female: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherji, Preity Zinta and Priyanka Chopra.
Music of the decade: Taal – 2000 AR Rahman; Kaho Na Pyaar Hai – 2001 Rajesh Roshan; Lagaan – 2002 AR Rahman; Saathiya – 2003 AR Rahman; Kal Ho Na Ho – 2004 Shankar Ehsaan Loy; Veer Zaara – 2005 Madan Mohan; Bunty Aur Babli – 2006 Shankar Ehsan Loy; Rang De Basanti – 2007 AR Rahman and Guru – 2008 AR Rahman.
Director of the decade: Sanjay Leela Bhansali – Hum Dil De Chuke Saname 2000, Devdas 2003 & Black 2006; Rakesh Roshan – Kaho Na Pyaar Hai 2001 & Koi Mil Gaya 2004; Ashutosh Gowarikar – Lagaan 2002; Yash Chopra – Veer Zaara 2005; Raj Kumar Hirani – Lage Raho…. 2007 and Shimit Amin – Chak De India 2008.
Movie of the decade: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam – 2000; Kaho Na Pyaar Hai – 2001; Lagaan – 2002; Devdas – 2003; Kal Ho Na Ho – 2004; Veer Zaara – 2005; Black – 2006; Chak De India – 2008 and Rang De Basanti – 2007.

Kareena Prepares for Performing at IIFA '09

Bebo is now learning belly dancing for a performance in international film awards event that will take place next month in Macau, The IIFA Awards 2009. Kareena will be taking belly dancing lessons from Shiamak Davar. He is also choreographing her act. Bebo starts her lessons from tomorrow after returning from Hyderabad.

Apart from the fact that Bebo’s being paid a whopper she is easily the highest-paid actress in the show lineup. Kareena is pulling out all the stops for her act. It’s an all-out Billu act with a
Turkish-Arabian feel.

Manish Malhotra is designing her outfits. In one of the songs, she will be dressed like an Arabian princess with gold harem pants made of silk, satin and lace. Kareena will perform to Marjaani from Billu .

She is doing things back to back, she goes to perform for a show, comes back tomorrow, shoots for a jewellery ad shoot and in the evening starts her belly-dancing classes.

Says Bebo, "I’m performing at the awards this year and am taking belly dancing classes for my act. This will be the first awards event I perform at this year. I’ve become very choosy about where I perform. I am performing at this particular award show as it gives me an
international standing. Also, this awards event celebrates its 10th year and this is the third consecutive year I will be performing for them." Is she also going to perform for Saif? "Well he’s attending the awards as he’s having a press show for his home production Love Aaj
Kal, so he better be watching my act!"

IIFA Awards to be hosted by Boman Irani and Ritesh Deshmukh

With their inimitable humor, Boman Irani and Ritesh Deshmukh had the audience in splits at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards last year in Bangkok. The duo is all over again set to play hosts to the glitzy cine event that will be held in Macau.

Apart from spoofs on popular movies and their witty jokes, Boman Irani had even donned a Scottish skirt during the show much to the amusement of the viewers. This year as well the Boman and Ritesh are ready to create fun riot on the stage. Sounds interesting !!!

Also completing a decade of its existence, the star-studded event will be held at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel at Macau starting June 11-13.

There will be host of Indian celebrities as well as international film personalities including brand ambassador megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his family, actors Hrithik Roshan, Jab We Met superstar-Shahid Kapur, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kangana Ranaut, Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta at the three-day-long weekend.

American actor John Terry might also grace the event, it added. Sonam Kapoor, the Delhi 6 cute girl will also be making her debut on stage at this event.

Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the organizers of the event have promised a whole set of surprises for the 10th year celebrations.

IIFA 2009 Who's there and Who's not?

Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

For the IIFA 2009 awards in China that are still a month away are raging with controversies. Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar is outraged that although he has been nominated in the best-director category, his film, Fashion, didn’t make the best movie shortlist.

And alike SRK, Salman Khan has also reportedly backed out of the famous IIFA Awards 2009 in Macao.

Just like the last year, this time as well, the event is expected to be Bachchans bastion.

Loosing some of the star power last year itself, IIFA 2009 after the withdrawal of Salman Khan could give a huge setback to organizers of this event.

This is because Salman Khan was supposed to perform at the awards night and also promote his upcoming flick ‘Wanted Dead And Alive’, stepped out at the last minute.

Salman had missed this event last year as well supposedly because Katrina Kaif had performed with Akshay Kumar.

What to Expect at IIFA 2009, Macau

10th IIFA Awards in the year 2009 will be held in Macau next month. They are promoted on name of 'Best of the Decade', 'Green IIFA' awards, which are special awards this season. The Brand Ambassador of IIFA is bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

First that is 'Best of the Decade' Special Award will be given for the five popular categories of Best Film, Director, Actor, Actress and Music Composer. And 'Green IIFA' Special Award will be presented to a film personality who has been working in the area of creating
environment awareness.

Speaking about the choice of the venue of the 10th IIFA, Sabbas said Macau presents a meeting ground for Indian, Chinese and Hong Kong film industries. "IIFA has carefully chosen 'The Venetian', the venue of the three-day event to give finishing touches to organisation of the
gala event," he said.

Choice of the film for the premiere would be decided in a few days depending upon how producers who had stopped new releases in multiplexes since last month, take a decision on fresh release dates. Kaminey and Aladin are on board already and three more films are in
the process of being finalised.

Sonam Kapoor will give her first stage performance ever for IIFA 2009 keeping aside her stage fright. Ritesh Deshmukh and Boman Irani, hosts of last year's IIFA awards event in Bangkok, will entertain this time too.

IIFA's 'Green Agenda' will continue this year too.TERI's campaign 'Lighting a Billion Lights' in association with IIFA has been well received, he said. IIFA has discussed the possibility of a separate event to celebrate non-Hindi language films. Hope this idea also materializes.

The three-day IIFA event will commence on June 11 and the award ceremony will take place on June 13.

IIFA Awards 2009 on Star Plus

STAR PLUS, the best entertainment channel on Indian Television, is all set to serve as the exclusive broadcaster for the 2009 International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards, reaching 150 million viewers in the Indian Sub-continent, South-east Asia, the Middle East, the U.S. and Europe.

To be held in Macau from June 11 to 13, 2009, the IIFA Awards sole aim is to promote Indian cinema on a worldwide platform and reach out to their global audience.

To kick off the festivities, STAR PLUS will feature special programs every weekend in June, including Golden Decade of Indian Cinema, which looks back at ten years of the awards; IIFA Weekend, featuring Bollywood celebrities enjoying Macau; and IIFA Curtain Raiser, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the rehearsals.

There will also be an eco-friendly "Green Carpet" show.

STAR PLUS is proud to broadcast the IIFA Awards to the world for a fifth consecutive year this 2009.

This prestigious event is a must see for Bollywood Cine-lovers worldwide, consistently rated as one of the most viewed programs on STAR schedule year in, year out.

Featuring world-class galas such as this one underscores 'STAR PLUS’ commitment to delivering the most sought after content to viewers in India and beyond.

Slumdog Team Anticipating MTV Movie Awards 2009

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

After winning Oscars and BAFTA, Slumdog Millionaire Team now is anticipating their victory at MTV Movie Awards 2009.

The film has been nominated in many categories there and is all set to grab a few more. The ever popular venture has been nominated in 6 categories for the MTV Movie Awards 2009. The USP of this years is that winners will be decided through online voting by fans.

Slumdog has been nominated for Best Movie, Breakthrough Performance Female – Freida Pinto and Breakthrough Performance Make – Dev Patel. Apart from these regular awards, there are some atypical categories such as Best Fight and Best Kiss in which real and reel life couple,
Dev and Frieda have been nominated. Looks like the onscreen smooch
definitely made it on audience's hot list!

Furthermore, MTV has added two new award categories: Best Song and best WTF Moment. The classy AR Rahman's Jai Ho has been nominated for Best Song. This nomination will be competing against popular singers such as Bruce Springsteen, Miley Cyrus and Paramore. In the Best WTF Moment category, the jumping in the poop shed scene has been selected from Slumdog Millionaire.Interestingly, child star Ayush Khedekar, who plays the young Jamal (Dev Patel), who has been nominated will see competetion from Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie, Ben Stiller and Amy Poehler.

The winner will be zeroed through public voting taking place on MTV's website. The award ceremony will be held at Universal City, California on May 31.The event will also be telecast live on MTV.


Wish Slumdog Millionaire all the best! Will this venture sweep all the awards once again? Only time will tell.

IIFA 2009 Technical Awards Announced

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

IIFA 2009 Technical Awards were recently announced and the winners
will be honoured at the Cotai Arena, The Venetian Macau, during the 10th IIFA weekend on June 13.

Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar is continuing its success feat by
winning five out of the 14 awards in the International Indian Film
Academy's (IIFA) Technical awards category.

Aamir Khan starrer Ghajini came second winning three awards, a
statement issued by IIFA.Ghajini bagged the honours for Best Action
(Peter Heins and Stun Siva), Best Sound Recording (Resul Pookutty and
Amrit) and Best Visual Special effects (Prime Focus).

Oscar winner A R Rahman has won the trophy for the 'Best Background
score' for Jodha Akbar. The movie also won awards for Technical
excellence in best Costume design for Neeta Lulla, Best Editing for
Ballu Saluja, Best Art Direction for Nitin Desai and Best make up for
Madhav Kadam.

The winner in the Best Cinematography category was Jason West, while
Purple Haza clinched the Best Song Recording award for Rock On!!

The 'Desi Girl' beat all other dance numbers (Dostana) and won Farah
Khan the Best Choreography award, while Leslie Fernandes received the
Best Sound Re-recording trophy for 'Race'.

Manu Rishi won the Best Dialogue award for 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye',
while Neeraj Pandey bagged the honours in the Best Screenplay category
for 'A Wednesday'.

Nominations for the popular categories have gone online and will be
open till the end of May.

Phalke Awards 2009

Veteran Actor Manoj Kumar was felicitated with the 'Phalke Ratna award' for his contribution to the Indian film industry and an overwhelmed Kumar said,"I am honoured to receive this prestigious award from the Academy. I am thankful for considering me and my work."



Filmmaker Randhir Kapoor received the 'Phalke Kalptaru award' on behalf of his grandfather and legendary actor Prithviraj Kapoor, and said "It is a great moment and I am happy and honoured to receive this award for my 'dadaji'. He added that "It is Dadasaheb Phalke who gave the Kapoor family "a job." Whatever we are today, it is because of
him," Kapoor said.

Another Kapoor to be awarded on the occasion was noted actor Shammi Kapoor. He was honoured with the 'Phalke legendary Actor Award'.

Ashutosh Gowariker was also honoured for a 'memorable commercial film' - 'Jodhaa Akbar'."Every award has its own importance and significance. To receive award from the Academy of father of Indian cinema - Dadasaheb Phalke - is in itself an honour. It feels immense pleasure to receive this award along with several other noted artists from the industry," Gowariker said.

The awards have been instituted by Dadasaheb Phalke Academy in honour of the father of Indian cinema whose 148th birth anniversary is celebrated on April 30.

Another personality to be awarded was Shamshad Begum, one of the first
playback singers in Bollywood, and who has given us memorable hits like 'Kajra Mohabtawala...' and 'Leke Pehla Pehla Pyar...'.Shamshad Begum was honoured with the 'Phalke Golden Era Singer Award'.

The nonagenarian singer, who required help to get on the stage because of frail health, said, "though I have got the award when I am in my 90s, I am very happy about it."

Vipin Reshammiya, honoured for his contribution as musician and film producer, said, "I thank you all for the love and support that you have given me and hope that the same will be passed on to my son,
Himesh.""I am thankful to all who have given so much recognition to my
father. I owe my entire success to him," Himesh said.

Also, for the first time L V Prasad Group of companies conferred 'Shri L K Prasad Phalke award' on Surinder Kapoor for his contribution as a film producer to the industry.

Similarly, Manju Sharma was awarded for her contribution as a hair dresser, Anand Jagdane for his work as a make-up artist, Purshottam Bangera for his work as a dummy effect artist, Ajay Chadda for his work as a voice artist.

Anil all over at IIFLA 2009

Image by angshah via Flickr

The 6th year IFFLA opened on April 2, 2009 and continued till 26th. It
began with the traditional red carpet reception for the stars,
directors, producers, sponsors and big names in the film business.

Undoubtedly, the most sought after in the glittering line of
celebrities was Anil Kapoor, who was seen patiently obliging the media
with his charismatic demeanor even as the inaugural address was well
on its way by Marouda inside the theater.

A special reception was given at the Theater for Anil Kapoor on the
night of April 23 when the World Premiere of the English version of “
Gandhi, My Father” was screened. Before the show, Screen Actors Guild
President Alan Rosenberg presented a SAG card signifying Kapoor’s
membership. In an absorbing Q & A session following the movie, a very
emotional Kapoor responded to questions on the making of the troubled
relationship between the Mahatma and his eldest son and the compelling
reasons why he took on the responsibility of doing the role. Following
a philosophical introduction Kapoor closed with “ If we succeed ,
thank you very much – if we don’t , it’s okay!”

Pride of Opening Night Screening went to “ The Fakir of Venice” shot
in the gorgeous setting of the European city with a bizarre story line
which would have seemed far fetched had it not been introduced by its
director Anand Surapur and one of the lead actors Annu Kapoor as
being based on a true story.

The event showcased 36 films from 7 countries, including 4 world and 8
U.S. premieres. It was a great honor to present a tribute to Anil
Kapoor, star and Bollywood legend with over 100 films under his belt
and that three of his movies, ‘Gandhi My Father,’ ‘Virasat’ and
‘Lamhe’ were screened with the man himself in attendance.

The film festival continues to support filmmakers and not just their
films with its successful One-on- One program that brings together a
diverse mix of film professionals for brief, casual and intimate
meetings with participating filmmakers.

IIFA Awards 2009 Nominations

With the announcement of the official venue for the 10th IIFA Awards,2009, Amitabh Bachchan, the Brand Ambassador of the Awards, also declared the nominations for this year’s ceremony which are decided through a unique voting system. He praised the ‘transparent’ voting process exercised by IIFA and he reinforced the credibility of the awards.

The three day affair will commence on June 11th where Kareena Kapoor and current squeeze Saif Ali Khan, Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif will be the higlighting the event with their performance and presence.



Until then, this will give you something to chew over… the nominations are out!!!

Best Film
A Wednesday
Dostana
Ghajini
Jodhaa Akbar
Race
Rock On

Best Director
A.R. Murugadoss - Ghajini
Madhur Bhandarkar - Fashion
Abhishek Kapoor - Rock On
Ashutosh Gowariker - Jodhaa Akbar
Neeraj Pandey - A Wednesday

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Male
Aamir Khan - Ghajini
Abhishek Bachchan - Dostana
Hrithik Roshan - Jodhaa Akbar
Naseeruddin Shah - A Wednesday
Shah Rukh Khan - Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Best Actor in a Leading Role - Female
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan - Jodhaa Akbar
Asin - Ghajini
Bipasha Basu - Race
Katrina Kaif - Singh is Kinng
Priyanka Chopra - Fashion

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Male
Abhishek Bachchan - Sarkar Raj
Arjun Rampal - Rock On
Irrfan Khan - Mumbai Meri Jaan
Sonu Sood - Jodhaa Akbar
Vinay Pathak - Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Female
Bipasha Basu- Bachna Ae Haseeno
Ila Arun - Jodhaa Akbar
Kiron Kher - Dostana
Shahana Goswami - Rock On
Kangana Ranaut - Fashion

Best Actor in a Comic Role
Abhishek Bachchan - Dostana
Anil Kapoor- Race
Rajpal Yadav - Bhoothnath
Tejpal Singh - Jodhaa Akbar
Shreyas Talpade - Welcome to Sajjanpur
Tusshar Kapoor - Golmaal Returns

Best Actor in a Negative Role
Akshaye Khanna - Race
Imran Khan - Kidnap
Paresh Rawal - Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Pradeep Rawat - Ghajini
Vishwas Badola - Jodhaa Akbar

Best Story
Abhishek Kapoor - Rock On
Haidar Ali - Jodhaa Akbar
Madhur Bhandarkar, Ajay Monga, Anuradha Tiwari - Fashion
Neeraj Pandey - A Wednesday
Shiraz Ahmed - Race

Best Music
A.R.Rahman - Jodhaa Akbar
A.R.Rahman- Ghajini
Pritam - Race
Shankar Ehsaan Loy - Rock On
Vishal Shekhar - Dostana

Best Lyrics
Anvita Dutt Gupta - Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)
Jaideep Sahni - Haule Haule (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi)
Javed Akhtar - Jashn-E-Bahara (Jodhaa Akbar)
Javed Akhtar- Socha Hai (Rock On)
Sameer - Pehli Nazar Mein (Race)

Best Playback Singer - Male
Atif Aslam - Pehli Nazar Mein (Race)
Farhan Akhtar - Socha Hai (Rock On)
Javed Ali - Jashn-E-Baharaa (Jodhaa Akbar)
KK- Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)
Sukhwinder Singh - Haule Haule (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi)

Best Playback Singer - Female
Bela Shinde - Man Mohana (Jodhaa Akbar)
Monali - Zara Zara Touch Me (Race)
Shilpa Rao - Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)
Shreya Ghoshal - Teri Ore (Singh is Kinng)
Sunidhi Chauhan - Desi Girl (Dostana)