I Went to IIFA!

One of the biggest award shows I went to in 2011 was the IIFA Awards! For those of you who don’t know what the IIFA Awards are. Well, it is the International Indian Film Academy Awards. So, it is basically like the Oscars but Bollywood style. The IIFA Awards has been hosted in many countries including Sri Lanka, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Thailand and more! When I heard buzz that the 12^th annual IIFA Awards was coming to Canada more specifically Toronto, I had to GO! Tickets were sold out in minutes and going at an all time high! Scalpers were selling them for $1000! There is no way this broke girl is paying that much. NOPE! So, thanks to my connections, I scored some tickets to the IIFA awards but it was hard work! I had to go to the Royal York hotel and do a lot of talking and schmoozing for them to get convinced that I should score tickets. After grabbing my tickets I went to one of them main conference rooms at the Royal York and saw a couple of the Bollywood actors, directors and organizers for their press conference. Mind you, I barely watch Bollywood films but I know they are huge in the South Asian film market. Myself, I support the Tamil film industry and I know all the actors from the back of my head. However, I recently started watching Indian films with my cousins and my mom when the movies air on OMNI television. Anyways, I quickly spotted Bipashu Basu who is like the Angelina Jolie of Bollywood and super pretty but snobby and Anil Kapoor. Anil Kapoor who globally is the most recognized Indian actor. He also starred in many Hindi movies, he’s a producer, singer and even appeared in the Hollywood hit, ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ Anil Kapoor seemed to be the spokesperson for the IIFA’s as her was everywhere! Also, with him at the conference was the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGunity and to my surprise Jermaine friggIn Jackson! I mean I knew Bollywood also supports the IIFA’s by making an appearance but WOW! That was a huge celebrity surprise! There are even more Hollywood appearances, which I will get to shortly. However, this past year, I got into watching a lot of Bollywood movie and I actually like. Their storyline are more realistic, their songs are great and they are kind of getting more Western. There is actually a lot of sexual content in some of the movies. This was a shock to me because I assumed it was Taboo to talk about sex in the South Asian culture. Nevertheless, I guess a lot has changed because the actresses and actors look more Westernized. From their skimpy clothes, to speaking in English, to the music, filming locations and even their body frames. The girls have become super skinny and the guys are really jacked up. I noticed that most of the Bollywood actresses are sooooo snobby! It’s unbelievable! I mean sure they are beautiful but they are so conceited and they think the world revolves around them. Every single Bollywood actress I tried to talk to or take a photo with was like ‘ugh’. I just gave up on trying to take photos with the woman. It was like this with Bipashu Basu, Genelia D’Souza, Priyanka Chopra and Ameesha Patel. I recognized Genelia, Priyanka and Ameesha because they starred in Tamil films. The biggest snob was a shocker to me. When I saw Shilpa Shetty, I really wanted to tell her how much I loved her on the UK reality show ‘Big Brother’. Shilpa won first place but she went through the biggest racism controversy when her housemates attacked her. Shilpa stayed strong amidst being a target and won the hearts of the viewers. When I finally said ‘Hi Shilpa, can I....’ She goes to me, ‘Not now I am busy.’ WOW! Busy to say hi and take a photo?! She actually wasn’t busy because I just saw her standing around for over 10minutes waiting for her ride. I’m sorry Bollywood you ladies aint all that. Even OSCAR WINNER and Hollywood actress Hilary Swank who was another surprise guest was super nice, friendly and approachable. I just ended up chatting it up with the men of Bollywood because they were waaaaaaaaay nicer. They were always in a rush to escape their fans. This was especially the case for So after the conference, I went down to the lobby of the hotel and was about to leave when, I recognized legendary actor Anupam Kher in the hotel restaurant. I didn’t care if I made a fool of myself, I went straight up to him. Anupam had acted in nearly Bollywood 400 films! He is recognized in Hollywood for appearing in the movies ‘Bend It Like Beckham,’ ‘Bride and Prejudice’ and on TV shows like, ‘ER’.

I attended two big IIFA events. The first was the Music and Fashion Extravaganza held at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. The green carpet was rolled out for the stars and I had a good place to meet them but I knew I had to act fast. Fans were screaming and crying. Fans even bombarded the hotels and airport. I was so excited when I was one of the only people there to actually take a photo op with the King of Pop’s MJ’s bro, Jermaine Jackson and his wife. The Canadian Tenors and actress Lisa Ray were also signing autographs but no one else seemed to interest me and they were all in a rush to start the show so I just ended up going to the show. It was when I was inside backstage when all the magic happened. I was able to see all the performers getting ready to dance and be in the midst of all the chaos. I was getting tired and decided to sit on a couch backstage when I saw one of my Tamil movie crushes, actor Madhavan! I and every other girl watching Tamil movies had a HUGE crush on Madhavan. He was the IT boy in the 2000’s. Even mom’s thought he was hot. Finally, an actor who I can speak to in Tamil! I asked Madhavan if he has been to Canada before and he told me in Tamil, ‘many times’. I told him where he was staying and he said a hotel but he does have friends and family in Canada. It was sooo loud that I couldn’t really hear him but he told me his next movie was going to be ‘Vettai’. I asked him if we can take a picture together and he’s like ‘I’ll take it.” Well, the pic he took turned out awful of me so I was like, “Um, I’ll take another one.” Than actor Anupam came wearing a red coloured Canada sports jacket. So, I got up out of respect. They both presented an award together and were very chummy. After, the KING of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan came and sat on the couch and I was like in my head, “OMG! I need a pic!” I mean, getting a photo with Shahrukh Khan would have been the ultimate highlight of the IIFA Awards! When I was about to go to the couch, a security guard just gave me the look of death, so I left backstage because it got tight back there. I was still hanging around and was able to chase down Anil Kapoor and sexy actor Sonu Sood for a photo. There was also a singer who looked really familiar to me and while he was performing I asked everyone backstage who he was because I thought it was someone but I wasn’t sure. Everyone kept saying, “I dunno but he’s great.” Or “It’s Shankar.” I was like “Are you sure he’s not Shankar Mahadevan?” But no one had a clue. The person I was thinking of was Shankar Mahadevan, who is an award winning music composer and singer. Shankar sang hit songs in many Tamil movies. When the singer came backstage after his performance, I asked him in Tamil if he was Shankar Mahadevan and he said “yes”. I also asked him if he forgot about the Tamil people and he said “of course not”. Well, the first night of the IIFA’s was a success! I told my I took a photo with Anil Kapoor and she was like, “What about Shahrukh Khan?!” I sadly said, “no, but I was close.” Therefore, my goal at the main event was to capture a photo with Shahrukh Khan! Could, I do it? Well, you just have to keep on reading.

When I got to the Rogers Centre on June 25^th, it was jaaaaaaaaaaaaaam packed! It was an IIFA frenzy. I headed over to the green carpet and I could barely see the celebrities. However, many people were disappointed to see that many of the Bollywood actresses did not wear their culture colourful attires including sari’s and salwar kameez. Most of the actresses wore Western dresses. It was very disappointing to not see them be proud of their culture. I went inside and my seats were terrible. So, when I got exclusive access backstage it was amazing! Glitz and glamour was everywhere. There were tents for all of the celebrities. I was able to see many of the exciting performances. One actress I missed to take a photo with was actress Simran. Simran was like the IT girl Tamil film. She was so iconic to my generation. She knew how to dance, act, she was cool, had a tat and she was beautiful! Simran doesn’t in movies anymore because once Tamil actresses get married and have kids, they cannot act as heroines. I know, it’s so unfair because guys still act! Simran only made cameo appearances as a mom in a couple of movies after marriage. When I saw Simran on stage, boy did she gain weight. WOW! I saw Madhavan again with his wife and many hot male actors including; Karan Johar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sanjay Dutt, Sharman Joshi, Shahid Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi. I also had a chance to meet my new crush who is sadly married..... WAHHHH..........right after his win for ‘Best Male Performance in a Supporting Role...Arjun Rampal in the movie ‘Raajneeti’. Arjun was so shy it was cute. I told him to show his award and he was like, “Oh, yah.” LOL He was sooo cute and damn sexxxxxxxxxxxxy! Another highlight of the night was when surprise and Oscar winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr, who’s line “Show Me The Money” was a hit in the Movie ‘Jerry Maguire’! Cuba is HIGHLARIOUS! He was soooo TIPSY! When, I saw him and said “Cuba what’s up?” He’s like, “WOW, you look sooo scrumptious!” He gave me a hug and we had a mini photo shoot. Note: Cuba is married. It was in all fun and it was harmless. Cuba was soooo cool and was posing for pics with everyone. Cuba was sooo hammered that they had to get him some food to sober him up because he had to present an award! Cuba is freaking amazing man! All celebs need to be more chills like him. I regret not getting an interview with Cuba. Moreover, this was all happening all beside Shahrukh Khan’s tent, where Cuba also visited. I wanted a photo so badly, and was asking everyone until someone pointed out Shahrukh’s manager was the guy to ask. Shahrukh’s manager looked like an average brown guy from Indian who was not even wearing a suit. Just a dress shirt some slacks and a baseball cap. I chatted him up and he said not to worry and I will eventually get a photo with Shahrukh. I waited a long time, in between I caught performances. There was one point when Sharu came on stage to present an award, a man was on his knees and grabbing Shahrukh leg. Everyone was laughing and I asked someone beside me, “Is this part of the skit?” It turns out that was a crazy fan who escaped his seat and onto the stage passing security. He begged Shahrukh to talk to him and Shahrukh kept telling the guy after the how he promised to meet the guy. That’s not if security doesn’t get a hold of the guy first. Mind you, Shahrukh leg was also hurt and the psycho fan kept pulling at it. Shahrukh kept referring to guy to watch out for his injured leg. Well, security did eventually do their job and kicked the guy out. Shahrukh Khan performed some great dances despite his leg injury and so did actress Priyanka Chopra who paid tribute to a classical award winning singer Asha Bhosle who also is in the Guinness Book of World Records as ‘The Most Recorded Artist in the History of Music!” Asha’s older singer Lata is also famous singer. So, back to my pending Shahrukh Khan photo op. As I waited for Shahrukh I kept being annoying and asked his manager, “Can I go now and take a photo?” He kept telling me no and he was memorizing his lines to present awards and blah blah. Even Shahrukh’s bouncers who thought I was a Bollywood actress was of no help. In the meantime, Cuba sobered up to present an awards and he did a great job. Finally, Shahrukh went to use the bathroom and that was when the manager told me to get ready. I even dropped my camera, which thankfully didn’t break but cracked. GEEZ! When Shahrukh came out of the bathroom, I went up to him and everyone kept asking who I was and I was not allowed to. Fortunately, for me, Shahrukh’s manager and I were chums now and he told them in Hindi to leave me alone and allow me to take a photo! So, finally I was able to take a nice photo with the King of Bollywood even one with his sunglasses off! Also, big ups to Shahrukh Khan for winning ‘Best Male Performance in a Lead Role’ for the movie ‘My name is Khan’, which the movie itself won big at the IIFA’s, including Best Director, Best Story and others.

Overall, my night was made and after I relaxed watching the rest of the show! I was so proud of myself for having patience. I even got a chance to hold the IIFA Awards before it was about to go on stage and meet the dancers and set designers. All of the people worked on and offstage did an amazing job! All in all it was an epic and historical night that I will never forget! Months later, people are still talking about the IIFAs! I hear people saying how the show was great or that they weren’t able to go but watched it on TV but I am grateful that I was there right in the midst of it all! Thank you IIFA!