When will IIFA awards 2009 be aired on TV

We continue to receive many email’s asking when the IIFA awards 2009, held in Macau (China), be aired on Television.

Well, the Star Network has the official rights for the 10th Idea IIFA Awards. The mega event will be aired on Star Plus on Sunday, July 5th 2009.

What to look forward to at the IIFA Awards

• Star performances - Bipasha Basu, Anushkha Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Jackky Bhagnani, Govinda, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sushmita Sen. Ash and Abhishek too will be performing.
• There is a fun filled antakshari session, as the world gets to watch Hrithik Roshan sing!
• Apart from the main awards, there will also be awards for the Decade.

Jaya Bachchan behind Gowarikar’s anti-Priyanka rant

While almost the entire industry has criticised Ashutosh Gowarikar for saying on stage that Aishwarya Rai should have won the IIFA Best Actress award for her performance in “Jodhaa Akbar” and not Priyanka Chopra for “Fashion”, it has now emerged that the poor guy was indeed obliging Jaya Bachchan.

For those not in the know, it so happened that after Priyanka collected her award at the ceremony in Macau on June 13, it was Ashu went on stage to receive his Best Director award for “Jodhaa Akbar”.

The first thing that he uttered after taking the mike was, “Priyanka, I love you, but I don't know how you got the award for Best Actress when Aishwarya was also nominated in the same category for ‘Jodhaa Akbar’.”

He further added, “Maybe it is because you are very hard-working and she is a natural.”

But when he realised that he was goofing up he said, “Jayaji was just asking me the same thing," pointing to Jaya Bachchan, who was standing next to him.

Subsequently, everyone thought he had just dragged Jaya into the picture as cover-up for his own mistake. However, in an interview, Jaya Bachchan has admitted that she did ask Ashu to say what he did, and that too in public.

"It is being presumed that Ashutosh unnecessarily mentioned my name regarding Aishwarya's omission from the awards. The fact is, I suggested he bring up the question on stage. We were discussing why Aishwarya had not been given any award for 'Jodhaa Akbar'. I suggested Ashutosh bring up the matter. When he mentioned my name, he wasn't doing anything wrong," Jaya has said.

“I wonder why Aishwarya's fine performance [in ‘Jodhaa Akbar’] was ignored,” she has also said, adding that she has not seen “Fashion”.

May be she should see the movie to get the answer.

Reasons why this year's IIFA Awards at Macau were a roaring success

It's the mother of all events and this year's IIFA at Macau, China lived up to its reputation of being the best in the business.

Come to think of it, handling so many stars and celebrities [and their elephantine egos] is next to impossible. But I'd salute Andre Timmins, Sabbas Joseph and Viraf Sarkari along with the Wizcraft team for pulling off a spectacular event without a glitch. READ FULL ARTICLE

Bollywood's Returning from IIFA 2009

Ashutosh Gowariker blasted hosts Riteish and Boman Irani at the IIFA awards

Ashutosh Gowariker has done it again. After a verbal spat with hosts Sajid and Farah Khan at an awards ceremony, he had another run-in with Riteish Deshmukh and Boman Irani, who were hosting an international film award function held over the weekend. READ FULL ARTICLE

Bollywood Stars Arrival

We are back in Mumbai

B-Town folk who had flown off to a foreign location for an awards ceremony returned to the city on Monday morning.

It is official denim is the choice of travel wear for our divas.

Style watch on IIFA green carpet

Flowing, elaborate, layered and slinky Western dresses scored over the India sari or shalwar kameez for most Bollywood actresses at the green carpet of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Macau on June 13.

While only few actresses such as Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta stuck to the graceful six-yard drape, most others like Bipasha Basu, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse, Genelia D'Souza, Sushmita Sen, Dia Mirza, Amrita Rao and others proudly showed off their curves in body hugging Western attires.

"A sari for me is just six yards of beautiful draping. I love sari and I was feeling very 'desi' (Indian) tonight, so I decided to wear a sari. I think it flatters a woman's body the best," said Priyanka, who flaunted a striking beige and pink Manish Malhotra creation.

Aishwarya wore a mint coloured, subdued, yet heavily embellished creation by designer duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla and looked extremely eye-catching walking in toe with husband Abhishek Bachchan.

Bipasha, Kangana and Sushmita were the best dressed among those who opted for the Western silhouette.

While Bipasha wore an electric blue dress by Delhi-based designer sisters Gauri and Nainika Karan, Kangana wore a pristine white wedding dress-like attire by Rick Roy. Sushmita, looked fit and slender in a slim, long Roberto Cavalli number.

"My dress weighs 25 kg. It is a very fairytale like dress and I always wanted one like this. But the weight doesn't matter. For girls, as long as they look good, they don't mind anything," said Kangana, who walked away with an IIFA award for her performance in Madhur Bhandarkar's "Fashion".

Star wives Sussanne Roshan and Mallika Khan (Zayed Khan's wife) too walked the green carpet wearing exquisite gowns.

The men gave the women a neck-to-neck competition on the fashion quotient.

The bow-tie look seemed very much like the flavour of the season with Abhishek Bachchan and Arjun Rampal flaunting the same.

Hrithik Roshan, who was named the IIFA style icon of the year, ended up making a major fashion faux pas by wearing silver formal shoes for the ceremony, where he was also named the best actor in a leading role for "Jodhaa Akbar".

Abhi-Ash revel in their love for each other

For Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, the IIFA Weekend could well have been a second honeymoon.

The couple, clearly very much in love in their third year of marriage, showed something rather rare in their public life otherwise - their affection for each other very publicly at the various International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend events and also during stage activities at the grand finale show in Macau, which is a Special Administrative Region of China.

In the company of Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan most of the time as they walked the green carpets at the three nightly events that saw hundreds of fans behind barriers screaming for autographs and a handshake, the couple readily obliged.

Aishwarya even playfully pulled Abhishek along by the hands at one stage when she thought he was taking too long in moving along as he chatted to the media.

But it was during the awards ceremony on Saturday night that the couple revelled in their love for each other amidst their performances on stage.

"Baby, you're the best," Abhishek said off the stage as he accepted the award for the Best Comic Role playing a pseudo-gay character in the hit film “Dostana” last year.

Earlier, when Aishwarya got the award for outstanding achievement by an Indian in global cinema, she said in her thanks to all her family: "You're the best husband!"

Towards the end of the show, as Abhishek danced through the 15,000-seater packed auditorium, he stopped by Aishwarya's seat and even got her to jump up and dance with him in front of her seat.

When Abhishek broke down and choked with emotion while talking about how he had aspired to be like his father when he saw Amitabh's role in "Amar Akbar Anthony" as a child, the shared emotion was clear on Aishwarya's face shown on the screens around the arena. And every time that he laughed or joked, she showed great joy too.

The same was true for Abhishek whenever Aishwarya was on stage, and the huge crowd lapped it all up with thunderous applause.

The love story that was the toast of Bollywood two years ago clearly continues to make waves.

I'm heterosexual but feeling 'gay' today

Abhishek Bachchan felt "very gay" as he accepted the best comic actor for his performance in "Dostana" at the Idea International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards. He dedicated the award to wife Aishwarya Rai and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh.

"I dedicate this award to two people - Amar Singhji, who is in the hospital, and my wife Ash. I promise I will only love you (Ash). I am a heterosexual, but today I am feeling very gay," Abhishek said in his acceptance speech in Macau.

Amar Singh, a close family friend for the Bachchans, is in a Singapore hospital reportedly for kidney problems.

In Tarun Mansukhani's comedy "Dostana", Abhishek and John Abraham played friends pretending to be a gay couple to secure rental accommodation in Miami. The film was a huge box-office success thanks to the duo's chemistry and perfect comic timing.

Abhishek, who started crying when his name was announced, said that it was his dream to do comedy like his father, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, did in "Amar Akbar Anthony".

"I used to watch my father in mind-blowing scenes in 'Amar Akbar Anthony' and used to say I want to be like that man. And here I am today. I would like to thank ma and pa for giving birth to me because I am here because of you (mom and dad). I would like to thank Ash's mummy and papa for giving birth to her."

Gay themes no longer in Bollywood closet

Gay themes in Bollywood are well out of the closet, if the many comic acts and sexual innuendos at the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) in Macau on Saturday (June 13) night were anything to go by.

With a number of quips about gay relationships by hosts Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh the order of the day, Abhishek Bachchan topped it off with his remarks as he won the Best Comic Role award for the film "Dostana" about him and John Abraham pretending to be a gay couple to secure accommodation from Priyanka Chopra's character in the film.

As he called his director onto the stage, Bachchan said: "You're the man!", quickly adding "No, not THAT man!

"And John (who was not at the Awards), I miss him, I was watching Bipasha and she was going like: 'He's mine!'

Addressing his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the front row, Abhishek said: "Baby, you're the best! This is proof that I'm a heterosexual, but tonight I'm feeling very gay (happy)."

Later in the show, Irani and Deshmukh, playing a gay couple getting married, were shown on screen in a spoof, The item ended with the double entendre comment :" Dost -aana - loved by all MAN-kind" (sic).

Deshmukh also made several "gay" advances towards some of the actors getting onto stage at items.

As for the film "Jodhaa Akbar", which was named best film and also won Ashutosh Gowariker the best director award, Irani remarked that Deshmukh would have made a good Jodhaa, the character played by Aishwarya Rai in the film.

The 15,000-strong audience at the Chinese resort here lapped it all up with huge applause.

IIFA Awards hosts name Bollywood dream cabinet

Bipasha Basu should be India's environment minister because she was "the real reason for global warming all over the world."

This was the choice of International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards hosts Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh who unveiled their dream cabinet before a packed auditorium at The Venetian Hotel in Macau as the annual event marked its 10th anniversary.

The comic duo announced their choice that they said should have been appointed by Bollywood after the recent elections, much to the delight of the 15,000 strong crowd in Macau on Saturday (June 13) night.

Director Ashutosh Gowariker should be agriculture minister for what he had done for the rural community with his hit film "Lagaan"; Raakesh Roshan, the coal minister because his successful film "Koyla" had shown that he knows everything there is to know about the black product; and Katrina Kaif should be the youth affairs minister because every youth wanted to talk to her, the pair added.

Aamir Khan should be home minister because all he did for eleven months in every year was sit at home and then just release a single film in the last month.

Akshay Kumar, shown on screen with his face on a Rs1,000 note, should be the finance minister because with the money he makes he could finance almost the entire population.

"Slumdog Millionaire" star Freida Pinto would do well in the post of minister for overseas and foreign affairs because she knew exactly how to start an affair abroad, Irani jested.

Always on the defensive, Salman Khan would make the ideal defence minister and Malika Sherawat could occupy the new position of minister for the upliftment of the downtrodden.

Others in the Irani/Deshmukh cabinet would be Sunny Deol as law and transport minister; Yash and Aditya Chopra of 'Punjab Power' fame for their film "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" as joint power ministers; and Viveik Oberoi as telecommunications minister because he knew how to make calls quickly when necessary.

Thank you 'babumoshai', Rajesh Khanna tells Big B

Bollywood veteran Rajesh Khanna was at his dramatic best when he received the lifetime achievement trophy at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Macau from his "Anand" co-star Amitabh Bachchan late on Saturday (June 13) night.

Khanna, who featured in hits like "Aradhana", "Kati Patang" and "Amar Prem" in his four-decade long career, kept referring to Big B as "babumoshai", in the manner in which he addressed Bachchan in their 1971 heartwarming hit "Anand".

It took me 40 years and 180 films to get this IIFA Life time Achievement award-along journey I must say I am very grateful to IIFA, (event organisers) Wizcraft, committee members and babumoshai. Babumoshai, thank you very very much," Khanna said in his acceptance speech.

“It is after 16 years later that we are together on a stage. I thank him from the bottom of my heart," he added.

Khanna, 66, also belted dialogues from his famous films to entertain the audience. And he even appreciated Bachchan's successful journey in his professional life.

Life should be big, not necessarily long, and my babumoshai is living life big - living life king size. (Look) from where to where he has reached in so many years. We started with ’Anand' and today we are on this platform. He is very dear to me, he is my babumoshai," he said.

Khanna received a standing ovation from industry members as well as the audience.

Whatever I am, I am because of you, my audience. My audience members, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian - everyone was responsible to make me an actor to a star to a superstar to what I am today. Thank you all," he said.

In the past, IIFA has awarded Bollywood stalwarts like Waheeda Reham, Asha Parekh, Yash Chopra, Dharmendra, Mumtaz and others for their contribution to Indian cinema.

In Pics: IIFA Awards 2009 Winners