events
Show Notes: The International Indian Film Academy Awards, June 25
Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, and Shah Rukh Khan shook a leg at the awards gala and took home some hardware, too. Photo courtesy of the IIFA Awards.
Bring out the awards-heh!
Following the build-up all throughout last week—from the stars, to the fashion, to the films, but mostly the stars—Bollywood’s gods and goddesses finally descended upon Toronto en masse on Saturday evening (and some of Sunday morning) for the 2011 International Indian Film Academy Awards.
Unique in scale, international draw, and appeal to a very specific (and growing) audience within Toronto, the IIFA’s award-wallahs were a new spectacle for a city not unfamiliar with a little glitz and glamour. Almost like a mix between the Much Music Video Awards and TIFF, the awards last week brought some of cinema’s most respected names to town and a lot of high-pitched shrieks along with them. But for such a high-profile event in Toronto, IIFA definitely has a large but still niche audience. And if you’re not in it, you don’t really get it, as we discovered Saturday night.
We were expecting drama, we were expecting pageantry, we were expecting one heck of a show. But a 7.5-hour marathon of waving, skits, speeches, videos, and dances? Let’s just say, we’re glad we brought snacks. Here’s an (abbreviated) account of what we experienced at the 2011 IIFA Awards.
6:30 PM: We make our way through lineups that snake all around the Rogers Centre to reach the green carpet, hoping to catch some of the fervor before the awards start at 7. From our spot in the press pit, we can see fans pressed against the metal barriers in front of the carpet to our right, and fans similarly pressed against the windows of the Rogers Centre hoping to get a bird’s eye view to our left. Cries erupt as the celebs arrive, with an almost magnetic-like effect to the arms of their adorers. Bipasha Basu (wearing the same dress as Ameesha Patel!), the Deol brothers, Shilpa Shetty, and Arjun Rampal all arrive, and we have to ask those around us for clarification on names and spelling. Anil Kapoor needs no explanation, especially on the arm of Hilary Swank. And Cuba Gooding Jr.? We didn’t know he was a Bollywood fan. You learn something new every day.
A volley of shrieks and screams erupt, and elbows shoot out in the press pit, eager to snag whoever caused the uproar. And it’s… Dalton McGuinty? Oh, no, Shah Rukh Khan follows him around the corner. With skies darkening overhead (not that it stops the men from donning their aviators outside or inside), we decide to take our seat.
8:30 PM: Slightly concerned we’ve missed a good chunk of the opening (it was slated to start at 7), we’re simultaneously pleased and terrified that the show hasn’t begun, and we find our seat with ample time. From the grass of the baseball field, we look back at the stadium, filled to the brim with bums in seats, people dressed to the nines in bedazzled saris and dresses, some waving IIFA flags about. We take in the set—an elaborate display of video screens and large-scale statues of the sunburst-like awards. It’d be dazzling, yes, but we still feel for those watching the show on Pay Per View. It’s not enough to hold one’s attention for an hour and a half. But actually walking into the Rogers Centre feels like entering India itself. The common language is now Hindi and we’re on Indian Standard Time now.
8:55 PM: The lights dim, the crowd roars, and the show begins! Hosts Boman Irani and Ritesh Deshmukh come on stage and, after thanking Toronto and lavishing the audience with praise (the first of many more praises to come), begin entertaining the crowd in Hindi. We wish we could tell you what about. They first present Anil Kapoor who then presents Dalton McGuinty, the man who ponied up $12 million to bring the IIFA Awards here, who then presents a video and dance to show the world that Ontarians have got rhythm too! A little girl ends with “This is my home, Ontario,” eliciting audible “Awwww”s from the audience. But it is fitting, as tonight is, for many Torontonians, a mashup of two very different homes.
9:55 PM: Dabangg snags three out of the first four awards for Best Music Direction and Best Playback Single for both male and female. Shah Rukh Khan has dazzled the audience as a third host to present the first round of awards, flexing his funny bone and proving he’s got impressive range. In fact, one man is compelled to run on stage, grab hold of Khan’s ankles, and begs in Hindi for Khan to make him an actor (or so we’re told by our seat neighbour). “Please, really, please sit back down,” Khan tells him as security takes the interloper away, sighs, laughs a little, and moves on like it happens all the time. Because it probably does.
Anyway, up next is the first dance number from Kangana Ranaut, who looks desperately tired and unenthusiastic. It’s a good thing she went on first; we’d hate to see her state in the wee hours of the morning.
10:25 PM: One more award for Dabangg (Best Screenplay), and for the first time ever, Bobby, Sunny, and their father Dharmendra Deol perform together in a fast-paced, frenzied dance in front of a giant bright-yellow turban amid a chorus of at least a hundred. The Bollywood veteran Dharmendra does a nice twirl (looks a little painful at his age) and is presented with a lifetime achievement award. His acceptance speech praises Toronto’s diversity and even gives a shout out to his estranged daughter, Esha Deol.
11:03 PM: The hosts set out to find the newest “Item Girl” with skirts and feather boas on the likes of macho men Arjun Rampal and Karan Johar. It reminds us that a little cross-dressing is always fun, but maybe it’s a good thing there won’t be any boas at Rob Ford’s cottage.
11:29 PM: Actress and model Priyanka Chopra is given an award for her environmental advocacy work, and the young man beside us literally jumps out of his seat. “IS SHE HERE?” No. After an awkward silence, her mother accepts on her behalf.
12 AM: This is when the night was scheduled to end. But for the umpteenth time, Karan Johar is thanking the mouthful of sponsors who made the night possible. Frankly, we don’t need another reminder that the Floriana IIFA Awards are sponsored by the Floriana Group.
Bipasha Basu performing at the 2011 IIFA Awards. Photo courtesy of IIFA Awards.
12:03 AM: Oh boy. A dejected Ritesh Deshmukh has entered the stage in a military uniform, arms tucked away as if they’re amputated, while Boman Irani looks like a more upbeat Hells Angels biker. We can’t understand the skit that follows, which we feel would be the same case if they were speaking English. But laughs come when the skit is over, with Deshmukh winning Best Comic Role for Houseful, and Sonu Sood from Dabangg getting our personal favourite award, Best Actor in a Negative Role. We assume Best Villain does not translate.
12:50 AM: We see the attractiveness in Priyanka Chopra—we mean, who wouldn’t—but still we’re not compelled to jump in our seats during her four-song tribute to the Bollywood icon Asha Bhosle, who is receiving a lifetime achievement award. There were sparklers, there were dancers, there were changes in locations, and even a surprise venture onto a stage in the audience, but man did she look distracted! Of course, that didn’t stop our friend beside us, disappointed by her previous non-appearance, from pulsating during her eventual performance. She finally got the chance to accept her Green Globe Award, in which she gave the compulsory “Hellooooooo Toronto!” and a cursory summation of how important the environment is. And, she’s out.
Slightly more charismatic is Arjun Rampal, who won Best Supporting Actor for Raajneti, who’s not hard on the eyes or the heart. “I thought you had forgotten me because it has been some time [since I was last at the IFFA Awards]. But you haven’t forgotten me, and I haven’t forgotten you.” We can feel the female audience members melting.
Actually, as more and more hosts, presenters, and award receptors praise Toronto and our Bollywood fans for our kindness and welcoming them with wide open arms, we’re starting to believe that these testimonials go beyond award-show etiquette. Maybe we actually are the best audience IIFA Awards have had in years? We like to think so, or maybe Bollywood’s charm is more pervasive than we thought.
1:18 AM: The home stretch! Anil Kapoor and Hilary Swank take to the stage to present the last round of awards (she with a good-natured “Namaste Toronto, namaste India, namaste world.”) Though only “King” Shah Rukh Khan himself wins the honour of Best Performance in a Leading Role – Male for My Name is Khan, all of the nominees win the prize for most eardrums decimated. A fancy-footed and surprisingly eager (even for him) Cuba Gooding Jr. and Bipasha Basu award Best Director to Karan Johar, also for My Name is Khan. But our own Dalton McGuinty delivers the one we’ve spent more than seven hours waiting for, Best Film, to Dabangg—despite the absence of its leading man, Salman Khan.
1:50 AM: The crowd has thinned significantly since the beginning of the awards, a lifetime ago it seems, most still holding on to see the end of the will-he-won’t-he debate about whether Shah Rukh Khan will dance the final number with a hurt knee. Not one to disappoint, he went dancer-turned-instructor, and tried to spur the red-eyed audience onto their feet. Bless his heart, even the King himself couldn’t inspire much participation. We took our cue to exit.
For a few days, Toronto was infiltrated by a whole other world, new to many of us. But a good show can be just as enjoyable despite language, ethnicity, or musical taste. Delays and our inability to understand Hindi aside, we felt something missing in the IIFA Awards—like we just weren’t in on the joke. Obviously, it’s a legendary industry with a history that can’t begin to be appreciated with rudimentary research, so for those enamored with Bollywood, its films, and icons, this was no doubt an event of a lifetime. To see the excitement within Toronto’s South Asian community was enough of a show in itself. It was one that we, as a city built upon diversity, should be proud to support in such a large-scale effort. Only, maybe we can stick to Eastern Standard Time from now on.