Shahrukh Khan snubs IIFA even though his movies scoop 15 awards

Bangkok played perfect host to the IIFA’s last weekend. The “City of Angels”, known for its incredible hospitality, delivered everything expected of it.

But the event itself was not without a good few hiccups.

IIFA remains the only movement dedicated to escalating interest in Indian cinema globally. But nine years since it began in London’s Millennium Dome, it still can’t claim the support of the entire industry.

Shahrukh Khan was the most notable absentee and a kingdom without its resident baadshah (king) is incomplete, especially considering that he had a hand in 15 of the awards that were handed out (nine for Chak De India including best actor and best picture and six for Om Shanti Om).

With the film industry increasingly fractured into various cliques, SRK’s absence also denied the IIFA’s (a Bachchan domain) of the support of the rest of his circle. So while he holidayed with his family in London, close friends Arjun Rampal, Rani Mukherjee and Farah Khan were also conspicuous by their absence.

Salman Khan, an IIFA stalwart was also missing as were Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Shahid Kapur, Bipasha Basu and John Abraham.

Aamir Khan’s absence came as no surprise but he also contributed towards diluting the event by refusing to nominate his movie Taare Zameen Par, thereby excluding last year’s best film.

The other downsides were the hitches at the awards function with Urmila Matondkar, who’d been roped in as a late substitute for the ill Vidya Balan, making a real spectacle of herself. She was so ill-prepared that she called the events auditors “Price Warehouse Coopers” instead of Price Waterhouse Coopers and also struggled with the autocue. It’s just as well that it was not a live TV broadcast or she’d have made a fool of herself.

There were technical bloopers too. Lovely Dia Mirza experienced a false start to her item first time round and had to start all over again, and Akshay Kumar, who gave the best performance by dropping from the roof of the venue, had to push his entry forward as the crowd noticed him and stopped paying attention to the proceedings on stage. Akshay, who took a quick break from filming in Jo’burg for his TV show Fear Factor, put on a breathtaking display.

There were plenty of reasons to be thrilled, especially Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh’s spell as anchors, with Aamir, Shahrukh and Aamir’s dog named Shahrukh being the butt of their jokes.

And Harman Baweja’s spell from Love Story 2050 with Priyanka Chopra has made that most eagerly awaited release over the next few weeks. Harman and Priyanka look smitten with each other, which may well be the case or else they’re just good actors!

Priyanka led a bevy of beauties to Bangkok, with Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai Bach- chan all looking drop-dead gorgeous. Aish might not have felt that way after her husband reprimanded her for laughing when he was called to accept a style-icon award. Like the rest of the audience, they also couldn’t understand why he was receiving the award.

Vivek Oberoi, with his seriously long hair, was the friendliest star around, making time for everyone — the organisers, the media and the fans, especially the pretty ones. He even signed autographs and posed for photos while shopping at a mall the day after the awards. Oberoi said he would be in Cape Town next month to shoot for Acid Factory with three Khans — Zayed, Fardeen and Irffan. Dia Mirza, Danny and Manoj Bajpai will join them.

“Global Green” remains the IIFA theme with IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan planting a frangipani sapling at the entrance to the hotel complex where the stars were staying and the green carpet once again in use.

That theme also helped one of the organisers, Wiz director Sabbas Joseph, out of a sticky situation. Asked why they had decided to stage the event at a venue that could accommodate less than 2000, (the smallest IIFA crowd ever) he latched onto that latest buzz word in eco-friendly circles and declared that it was to ensure a reduced “carbon footprint”.

That’s hard to believe when one considers he made the announcement at the same time as the launch of the Unforgettables World Tour, which is ex- pected to attract between 20000 and 60000 fans to each show. Just think what impact that will have on the same carbon footprint?!

A smaller venue meant extremely steep admission rates, the cheapest ticket cost 1000 while a privileged few paid up to 10000 .

Unforgettables is destined for South Africa, with Durban and Johannesburg as venues, later in the year. The Bachchan’s — Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya — will headline it along with Preity Zinta, Riteish Deshmukh and music duo Vishal-Shekar, with Akshay Kumar and Madhuri Dixit set to make friendly appearances in Canada and the USA respectively.

The former Indian ambassador to Thailand, Lata Reddy, is now based in Bangkok and had the last word, “Indian diplomacy has not achieved what film has achieved in the last few years,” she remarked in her opening speech to launch the event. “More than economic and strategic alliances, it has played a role in bringing our countries closer”.

Docky Dockrat attended the IIFA weekend with Eastern Mosaic. Check out the show over the next few weeks for extensive coverage, culminating in a special broadcast of the gala event on Saturday, July 5, at 8pm on SABC2. Goutham Vasudeva Menon and Kamalhassan enjoyed a mega-hit with Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu (Hunt and Play), a film that also enjoyed international critical acclaim. Although Kamalhassan is hard at work with his Marmayogi, being co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures, he found the time to meet Menon to discuss a sequel to Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu. The sequel plans to give police officer Raagavan (Kamalhassan’s character in Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu) a new intriguing case that will see the investigations move to China and then to Hong Kong. Jothika, who played the female lead in Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu, has retired after her marriage to Surya, so it is likely the sequel will give Raagavan a new love-interest. Goutham is currently completing patchwork on Vaaranam Aayiram and has also begun work on Chennaiyil oru Mazhaikaalam. He will start work on the script for Vettaiyaadu Villaiyaadu 2 only in October this year. In November, Menon will start the first schedules for his second film with Sarathkumar in the lead role. They last came together in Pachaikilli Muthucharam. Their new venture together will be produced by Radaan Media Works, a production company belonging to Sarathkumar’s wife, Radhika. Radhika is currently facing a dilemma regarding the casting for KS Ravikumar’s Juggubhai in which Shreya will play Sarathkumar’s screen daughter. The role of the mother has been turned down for various reasons by Sneha, Simran, Padmapriya and Vimala Ramanan. Eventually, Sarathkumar found someone willing to play the role – actress Thabu – who indicated she would accept the role at her price tag and therein lies the problem. Thabu is reportedly asking for 7.5-million rupees which is more than what some lead actresses charge. Knowing the star power of Thebu, will Radhika accept such terms or will she look elsewhere? P Vasu hopes to recapture the magic of Chandhramukhi in a sequel – only possible if he can secure Rajnikanth’s dates for the film. Vasu has already worked out the basic plot for this movie, provisionally titled Vettaiyan. Vinay, the young and handsome actor who made his debut in Unnaale Unnaale, will soon be seen in his second film, Jayam Kondaan. The film had a grand audio launch in Chennai last weekend, attended by industry bigwigs like Kamalhassan and Manirathinam. Jayam Ravi, one of the speakers at the function, was clearly in awe of Kamalhassan and told the audience he was honoured to have worked with Kamalhassan in Aallavandhaan as an assistant to director Suresh Krishna. However, he quickly added he felt honoured even though he had no direct link with Kamalhassan at the time. Directed by Kannan, a former assistant director to Manirathinam, Jayam Kondaan will see Bhavana and Lekha Washington in the lead roles opposite Vinay. Music is by Vidhyasaagar while Pattukottai Prabhagar penned the script. Jayam Kondaan is set to be released in the first week of July. Encouraged by the success of Arasaangam, Vijayakanth has decided to tone down the political preaching in his films. His next film will be for director Vikraman, which will see Vijayakanth play a family man. The two last came together in the memorable hit Vaanathai Pohla. Vijayakanth is currently shooting for Yengal Aasaan in which he plays a banker. Sa Chandhrasekara, the father of llaiya Thallabadhi Vijay, is to return to movie direction in a forthcoming project titled Pandhaiyam. The film also marks the return of ace cinematographer PC Shriram and will see Nithin Sathya, Sindhu Tholani, Pra- kash Raj and Radhika in the lead roles. A new ambitious animated film titled Manikandan is currently being made. With a budget of 10-million, it will be the most expensive animated film made on Indian soil (Sultan the Warrior is excluded because of its Hollywood connection). The film tells the story of the resident deity of the temple in Sabarimalai, known as Ayyappan. Malayalee actors Mohanlal, Ganesh, Sukumarie and Jagathi have lent their voices for the Malayalam version. The search is now on for stars willing to lend their voices for the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi versions.