KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)
The caravan called Indian International Film Festival (IIFA) Awards enthralled UAE and worldwide fans present in the region for one last time at the Yas Island Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
The IIFA is being held every year at a different destination since 2000, but the red carpet rolled out by the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) – Abu Dhabi was such that the IIFA jamboree made it a three-year extended stay on its history calendar.
Each year, the best performances over the period of the past 12 months in the Hindi film industry aka Bollywood, gets recognised with the winners, notified in advance, travelling to different parts of the globe where they accept the accolades from a worldly fanbase.
Abu Dhabi has been able to keep the flock coming because of its track record in hosting even in crises times such as COVID-19.
In 2022 and 2023, the chief host of the show was Salman Khan.
The cherry on the top for the sellout crowd at the Etihad Arena over the Yas weekend this year was Shahrukh ‘King’ Khan being the master presenter with support from Vicky Kaushal, Karan Johar and Siddharth Kannan.
While Salman Khan is gearing up to host his annual, massively popular Bigg Boss reality TV show starting next week, the choice of Shahrukh Khan made complete sense once it became evident on Sunday night that the IIFA jury has adjudged him the Best Actor for his performance in the film “Jawan.”
The winners list for the 24th staging of IIFA was dominated by the film “Animal” while some veteran actors such as Shabana Azmi, Anil Kapoor and Rani Mukherji also ensured that the young actors currently in Bollywood will need to work harder to deliver big performances.
There was more stage presence for superstars of yesteryears, Rekha, Hema Malini and writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar.
There were dance shows interspersed as usual to entertain the packed 25,000-capacity crowd from famous actors and actresses such as Nora Fatehi, Janhavi Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Ananya Pandey and Kriti Sanon.
Singers Honey Singh and the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy were also among the entertainers.
Co-host Kaushal also performed the song with a viral hook step “Tauba Tauba.”
There was an inclusivity theme to the whole affair with Friday earmarked for recognition of the industry professionals associated with four languages – Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu – from southern part of India through IIFA Utsavam.
Director’s Masterclass
It was not all song and dance but some serious food for thought for local students from the film and visual production fields on the sidelines of the main event.
A Masterclass session helped people gain valuable insights from celebrated Indian film director Rakeysh Mehra, the man behind superhit films such as “Rang De Basanti,” “Bhaag Milkha Singh” and the critically acclaimed “Delhi-6.”
He patiently heard to every question without looking at the clock and offered free and frank advice.
He even shared such profound insights into his films, inspiration and thought processes besides gems of information from his body of work which has yet never been shared.
There was a person in the audience who wanted him to come to a small-town city in India called Malegaon where there is a huge output of people making short films and uploading them on YouTube.
He wanted Mehra to come and motivate them. Instantly, Mehra said he was aware and in fact told him that a film is already being made in the way (“Supermen of Malegaon” is getting released in early 2025 on Amazon MGM Studios.)
At least two people got instant gratification that they would not have even imagined when in response to their queries around their respective situations, Mehra got genuinely interested and offered to intervene directly.
He offered to read somebody’s script, and even went a level up to instantly agreeing to co-produce a young girl’s attempt to tell the story of her country Somalia’s connection with Indian cinema.
A young, working broadcast professional came from Kenya with her mother in tow.
“I work for a radio station, and even though I have learnt during my education days, the one part of my work I keep struggling with every now and then is the script writing. Today’s session was so beneficial when you hear that someone like him [Mehra] gives so many years and importance to scripts,” said Mehek Dagar.
Meanwhile, earlier in a conference, Nouf Al Bushlaibi, Executive Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications, DCT Abu Dhabi, had said, “We’re excited that Abu Dhabi, a city where culture and creativity are at the heart of everything we do, is chosen as the platform to celebrate Indian cinema.”
With the Yas Creative Hub offering a great platform and the Etihad Arena’s grandiose stage shining bright into the nights, Abu Dhabi bade goodbye to the IIFA in the late hours of Sunday night, but the sense pervading through is that the relationship story is not yet over.