| Left-to-right: Santiago Corrada (President and Chief Executive Officer of Visit Tampa Bay), Al Higginbotham (Hillsborough County Commissioner), Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Pritam, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Peter Haas (U.S. Consul General) and Bob Buckhorn (Mayor of Tampa Bay). Photo credit: Wizcraft. |
Artists and ambassadors came together in Mumbai on 18 February 2014 to highlight events to be held at the 15th International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) in Tampa, Florida 23-26 April 2014. Among the activities:
- IIFA Stomp - a celebration by the Tampa Bay community to welcome IIFA on April 23rd - a unique celebration of Indian music, dance and cuisine in the Curtis Hixon Waterfont Park in Tampa. This open for general public event, will feature popular DJs led by Ravi Drums and Akbar Sami.
- IIFA Rocks - A fashion and music spectacular. According to a BollywoodSpice interview with IIFA & Wizcraft Director Andrew Timmons, "IIFA Rocks is a special event where we are going to showcase costumes from Bollywood movies, Indian costumes. We want to showcase fashion and are also going to showcase the local fashion. We have one of our big music composers Pritam to do the music. It is going to be more indo-western music, so it is going to be interesting. We are going to bring in some local DJs too."
- IIFA Masterclass with an international actor
- IIFA Magic of the Movies & Technical Awards - Hosted by Saif Ali Khan. According to Andrew Timmons, "Along with the technical awards we are going to showcase in an unique concept what a movie can be: so we are talking about comedy, we are talking about stunts, we are talking about songs, we are talking about weddings. It will be like watching a movie in different sequences."
- Tata Motors IIFA Awards - Hosted by Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar. The major event - a celebration featuring stars and performances guaranteed to entertain.
- FICCI IIFA Global Business Forum will take place over two days (24th & 25th April) at the Tampa Convention Center. Hosted by the University of South Florida College of Business, the business forum will be addressed by several leading visionaries and business leaders including Indian IT visionary, founder and Executive Chairman of Infosys, Narayan Murthy and FICCI President Siddharth Birla. The business forum’s verticals will focus on renewable energy, pharma, healthcare & life sciences, tourism, IT and cyber security, infrastructure, education and higher education.
- Stars confirmed for performances: Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha Basu, Pritam and Vir Das among others. The performances would be choreographed by the internationally-renowned Shiamak Davar. More stars would be announced in the next few weeks.
With the awards two months away, excitement is building among the film fraternity and hosts.
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“Over the years, I have been privileged to have been a part of and performed at several IIFAs and have watched them grow from strength to strength. It is commendable that IIFA continues to be a magnificent celebration of Indian Cinema and IIFA’s efforts to promote Indian Cinema on a global scale are really praiseworthy. ... It would be fun to be in North America this year, because with a huge number of Bollywood fans in the country, it will only be a remarkable celebration." - Bipasha Basu, Actress |
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“There is nothing as unique as Bollywood, and Tampa is in for a treat this year! The IIFAs are a great platform for us to showcase our work to the world. This April, IIFA will bring the magic of Indian Cinema to America.” -Anil Kapoor, Actor |
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“There is a great pride when representing your country and the Indian film industry, and IIFA makes that possible for all us. I am excited to reach out to our fans and Indian Cinema aficionados in the USA and across the world. I’m sure IIFA 2014 is going to be a phenomenal success as it ventures into USA.” - Kareena Kapoor Khan, Actress |
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“It’s always amazing to give our Indian and international audience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness one of the finest celebrations of Indian culture and cinema. IIFA is really going to rock this year!” - Saif Ali Khan, Actor |
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“I’m excited by IIFA’s decision to hold this year’s awards ceremony in Tampa, Florida. Bollywood fans across the United States will be thrilled that India’s biggest film stars are coming. We look forward to other Indian companies choosing the United States as their travel destination and stand ready to assist.” - Peter Haas, U.S. Consul General in Mumbai |
Conceptualized and produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and supported by the key members of the Indian film fraternity, IIFA is the most appreciated South Asian film academy. Also, the IIFA Awards is India's biggest media event. With a viewership of almost 800 million, it is among the world's most-watched annual entertainment events. From a one night celebration in 2000 at the Millennium Dome, London, the last fourteen years have seen the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) movement grow into a cine-packed weekend of film-festivals, workshops, exhibitions, film-showcases, global business forums and sporting events, all of which climax into the highlight of the Weekend, the IIFA Awards. www.iifa.com
| Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit Nene with IIFA hosts from Tampa Bay, Dr. (Mrs.) Pallavi Patel and Dr. Kiran Patel. Photo credit: Wizcraft. |