Shetty fronts UK Bollywood fest
2007-06-08 09:58
Leeds - A film awards festival known as the Bollywood Oscars which is being held in Britain was formally launched on Thursday by superstar actors Amitabh Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty.
The International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFAs) kicked off on Wednesday but the official launch took place in Leeds, northern England on Thursday, ahead of the gala world premiere of The Train, starring pinup actor Emraan Hashmi.
The event, which culminates in a glitzy award ceremony on Saturday, celebrates the world's second largest cinema industry and will likely be watched on television by some 500 million people around the world.
'Unifying force between cultures'
Bachchan, whose superstar status in India is based on huge movie success across four decades, told reporters that Bollywood film had the potential to act as a unifying force between cultures.
"Over the years, we have seen how Indian films have almost become a parallel culture and how wonderful to see this culture now forming a magnificent bridge between two different cultures, two different communities," he said.
"We have been through several years of criticism, of cynicism on the kind of products that we make, our contribution to society.
"To see it all culminating today in this wonderful manner is really an appreciation of the progress that Indian cinema has made through several years of hard work."
Bachchan, nicknamed "the Big B," was voted biggest star of the millennium in an online poll conducted by the BBC in 1999 for a dazzling career which dates back to the 1970s.
Message from Prince Charles
He also issued a clarion call for action over "the dangers of global warming," which the IIFAs are highlighting by their substitution of the awards ceremony's traditional red carpet for green.
Britain's Prince Charles also contributed a brief video message to the launch calling for swift action over global warming.
Shetty, who shot to fame in Britain earlier this year after triumphing over racist bullying on reality television show Celebrity Big Brother, struck a lighter note in her comments.
"It's one of those award functions that doesn't support box office success but sheer talent," she said.
"That's the reason why I have so much respect for the IIFA and it's one big party, that's another."
Other events that took place on Thursday included the first screening of The Train, a thriller shot in Bangkok about a bored husband who has an affair with a woman he meets on a train which also stars former Miss India Sayali Bhagat.
Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai
By securing the prestigious premiere slot, it is following in the footsteps of movies including Lagaan in 2001, the last Bollywood work to be nominated for the best foreign language film Academy Award.
Elsewhere, veteran star Dharmendra and his sons Sunny and Bobby Deol have promoted their first ever film together, the family drama Apne, which also stars Shetty.
Other superstars in attendance at the IIFAs include Bachchan's son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai plus Salman Khan.
The IIFAs are held abroad to raise the profile of Hindi film internationally. Previous venues have included Amsterdam and Dubai.