The biggest annual Bollywood extravaganza and entertainment show, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend and Awards 2017 will be held at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 14-15. The IIFA event, has been held annually all around the globe at choice locations, has only once before held in the United States: in 2014, in Tampa Bay, Florida.
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One of the highlights three years ago was Hollywood stars John Travolta and Kevin Spacey dancing on the stage, with Spacey doing the famous ‘lungi’ dance from Shah Rukh Khan’s song in ‘Chennai Express’, along with Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor.
IIFA, beginning with London in 2000, has been held in the Sun City (South Africa), Genting Highlands (Malaysia), Johannesburg (South Africa), Singapore, Amsterdam, Dubai, Yorkshire, Bangkok, Macau, Colombo, Toronto and Kuala Lumpur. Last year, it went to Madrid in Spain..
The two-day IIFA Festival New York will feature on July 14 ‘IIFA Weekend Press Conference’, ‘IIFA Rocks Green Carpet’ and ‘IIFA Rocks’ and July 15 will see the ‘IIFA Awards Green Carpet’ and ‘IIFA Awards’.
New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio said, in a statement, “We are thrilled to welcome IIFA to New York! Our city is home to both a thriving film industry and a dynamic, growing Indian American community. This is an event that will contribute enormously to both the cultural and economic life of our city. We welcome the artists and fans of Indian cinema, and encourage everyone to experience the rich cultural life across the five boroughs while celebrating these groundbreaking films.”
Ron VanDeVeen, President & CEO, MetLife Stadium, said in a statement, “We are honored that IIFA has chosen MetLife Stadium to host the 18th annual IIFA Awards and we look forward to welcoming the thousands of fans from around the world who will travel to New Jersey. This global event offers us the incredible opportunity to host our first-ever awards show and to continue to showcase our region to an international audience.”
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Some of the celebrated personalities from the Indian film and music fraternity to attend the event are: Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Abhishek Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, Sonakshi Sinha, Boney Kapoor, Sridevi, Karan Johar, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Rajkumar Hirani, Sajid Nadiadwala, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, A. R. Rahman, Pritam Chakraborty among others.
Andre Timmins, Director, Wizcraft International, said, in a statement: “I am really looking forward to the IIFA Festival this year as we are premiering our event in New York City and this is the ideal destination as we start to creatively evolve and grow the brand and its events. The brand is building the bridge between the Indian film industry along with the international world of entertainment to come together on one stage and this is the perfect destination to host such diverse and multi-cultural celebrations.”
Timmins said in an interview that the event has “the support of the American consulate, the Governor, the Mayor of New York,” adding, “I would be more than happy if Trump (President Donald Trump) wants to come and address our IIFA Awards and touch about 40,000 Asians.”
The organizers are keen this year to get stars like Rajinikanth, Nagarjuna, Kamal Haasan, Allu Arjun and Jr. NTR from the southern film industries, to attend the show.
By Premji
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