The 15th Indian International Film Academy awards (IIFA) closed on Saturday in Tampa with a glittering event where Farhan Akhtar, the night's co-host, was crowned Best Actor for his role in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. The sports biopic also won Best Film and Best Director (Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra), besides nine technical awards.
A-lister Deepika Padukone, who was nominated for three films, was named Best Actress (Chennai Express) and Best Entertainer of the Year, and took to the stage to perform a colourful choreographed sequence, one of many extravagant song-and dance routines headlined by top celebrities.
The awards also took on an American flavour: one dance had pom-pom-waving cheerleaders. John Travolta, who was honoured as the Most Popular All-Time International Star in India, featured prominently during the four-day event and appeared during the gala awards night with Priyanka Chopra and Bollywood's king of dance Hrithik Roshan. They executed some on-spot famous Saturday Night Fever moves to roaring applause.
Chopra saluted Travolta, saying: “No one else could have done that with no rehearsal.”
Travolta had earlier revealed that he is currently considering a role in a Hindi movie.
“I cannot deny dance in my life,” he said. “It is part of my soul. This is part of most of Bollywood’s films and I agree with it.”
Besides Akhtar and Padukone, big winners of the night included the romantic drama Aashiqui 2, which bagged several awards for its music, lyrics and playback singers. Dhanush, the southern Indian actor, was presented with the Debutant of the Year gong for Raanjhanaa, his first Hindi-language film. And the veteran star Shatrughan Sinha was honoured for his contribution to the Indian film industry. Sinha gave a veiled plug to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party as he received the Lifetime Achievement award.
Held for the first time in the United States, the awards night kicked off before a 20,000-strong crowd in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team stadium with a pirate-themed opening musical number.
The co-hosts Shahid Kapoor and Akhtar, dressed in swashbuckling outfits, demanded the key to host city Tampa, Florida, from mayor Bob Buckhorn, dressed in Indian attire and sitting in the front row.
“I will give you this key if and only if you entertain us,” said Buckhorn, after which Kapoor and Akhtar climbed onstage and proceeded to have a mock sword fight.
Later, the Slumdog Millionaire star Anil Kapoor introduced Buckhorn, who thanked the crowd with "namaste". Kapoor also made appeals for women's rights in the wake of a series of horrific rapes in India.
Continuing the American theme was the House of Cards star Kevin Spacey, who arrived in a tuxedo and later donned an Indian lungi around his waist to cheers from the crowd.
Before the show started, Travolta, Spacey and dozens of Indian film stars walked past hordes of international media. Unlike the Academy Awards, IIFA has a green carpet instead of a red one.
IIFA organisers say the Indian industry sells 3.6 billion movie tickets a year, about a quarter of them in the US.
• For a picture gallery of the IIFA awards, click here
* Agencies
