(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Pirate-themed act on final iifa awards night has travolta dancing with hrithik and priyanka.
the indian film industry’s top award show sailed into tampa on saturday with a pirate-themed opening musical number and celebrities ranging from slumdog millionaire star anil kapoor to john travolta.
before a crowd of some 20000 the international indian film academy awards started with the entrance of actors aboard a float built like a pirate ship. the show informally known as the ‘bollywood oscars’ are being held in the united states for the first time.
co-hosts shahid kapoor and farhan akhtar dressed in swashbuckling outfits demanded the key to tampa from mayor bob buckhorn who was sitting in the front row at the city’s nfl stadium.
“i will give you this key if and only if you entertain us” said mayor buckhorn after which kapoor and akhtar climbed onstage and proceeded to have a mock sword fight.
later anil kapoor introduced buckhorn who thanked the crowd with “namaste.”
“they said we couldn’t do this. they said tampa was too small. they said ‘where’s tampa?’” buckhorn said. “welcome to the greatest city in america.”
before the show started travolta kevin spacey and dozens of indian film stars including deepika padukone walked past hordes of international media outside the stadium. unlike the academy awards iifa uses a green carpet instead of a red one.
travolta who was to be honoured with an award posed for photos with his arm around priyanka chopra.
during a packed news conference on saturday afternoon the oscar winner said he is currently considering a role in a bollywood movie.
“i cannot deny music and dance in my life” he told reporters. “it is part of my soul. this is part of most of bollywood’s films and i agree with it.”
also on saturday afternoon house of cards star kevin spacey held a master acting class with chopra.
when asked what he thought about hollywood and bollywood working together spacey made the crowd of 300 roar with his answer:
“well it’s about (expletive) time” he said.
the awards cap off four days of well-attended events much to the delight of tampa tourism authorities and lovers of indian film and culture. the event has drawn the biggest indian celebrities including deepika padukone anil kapoor and hrithik roshan.
deepika padukone as expected walked away with the best actress trophy for chennai express while bhaag milkha bhaag won best film best director and best actor for farhan akhtar. iifa organisers say the indian industry sells 3.6 billion movie tickets a year about a quarter of them in the u.s.
list of winners
best picture: bhaag milkha bhaag
best director: rakeysh omprakash mehra
best actor: farhan akhtar (bhaag milkha bhaag)
best actress: deepika padukone (chennai express)
best supporting actor: aditya roy kapoor (yeh jawaani hai deewani)
best supporting actress: divya dutta (bhaag milkha bhaag)
best performance in a comic role: arshad warsi (jolly llb)
best performance in a negative role: rishi kapoor (d-day)
best music direction: mithoon ankit tiwari jeet ganguly (aashiqui 2)
best lyrics: mithoon (tum hi ho aashiqui 2)
best playback singer (male): arijit singh (tum hi ho aashiqui 2)
best playback singer (female): shreya ghoshal (sunn raha hai aashiqui 2)
best debutant male: dhanush (raanjhanaa)
outstanding contribution by an indian in the us: dr. kiran c. patel (raanjhanaa)
entertainer of the year: deepika padukone
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