The 13th IIFA Weekend kicked off
amid a lot of star power here today with actress Shabana Azmi
and Tamil thespian Kamal Hassan emphasising that the Bollywood
extravaganza is widening its horizon to provide a global
platform to regional cinema as well.
"We are celebrating all of Indian cinema here which is
not just Bollywood so this year we have also included cinema
from the South, the biggest representative of which is Mr
Kamal Hassan who is present here.
"Indian cinema is not homogenous, just like our culture,
so IIFA is slowly trying to provide a global platform to
regional cinema as well. This year we have South, we'll slowly
move to other regions as well," said Azmi.
Excerpts of Kamal's new film
Viswaroopam will be
showcased on Friday at IIFA.
"Exclusive IIFA has become inclusive. The Indian film
industry is very diverse and I am happy that the 13th IIFA
awards have included Southern cinema in its world, a world
which also includes people like Shabana Azmi and Liv Ullmann.
"I am honoured to have got the opportunity to share the
dias with these people and to show excerpts from my film
Viswaroopam," Hassan said.
Famous Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann is at
the IIFA this year to show her film on her relationship with
Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman.
The three-day festival, which travels to a new country
every year, is being attended by some of the leading Bollywood
stars like Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukherjee, Abhay
Deol, Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Farhan Akhtar, Shahid Kapoor,
Ranbir Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Preity Zinta and Bipasha Basu.
Amitabh Bachchan and his family, a regular at the IIFA
until recently, will give the event a miss third time in a
row. Shah Rukh Khan, a part of the festivities last year, has
also decided to skip IIFA to finish shooting for Yash Chopra's
next film.
The event will include the world premiere of Dibakar
Banerjee's political thriller
Shanghai, green carpet, IIFA
rocks, fashion show and a glittering award show at the end of
the ceremony.
Zoya Akhtar's road trip drama
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
and Vidya Balan's
The Dirty Picture will be fighting it out
at the IIFA this year.
ZMND leads the tally with 14 nods including best film,
best actor for Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol
for best supporting actor, Zoya Akthar for best director and
best music for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.
Ekta Kapoor's
The Dirty Picture follows close with 13
nominations including best film, best actress for Vidya Balan
and best director for Milan Luthria.
Imtiaz Ali's
Rockstar and Salman Khan's
Bodyguard are
also in the race with nine and seven nods respectively.
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