Stars arrive in Malaysia for
IIFA awards

Bharati Dubey in Malaysia

The stars are getting ready for the third International India Film Academy Awards to be held on April 6 at Genting Highlands in Malaysia.

The first to arrive at the venue was Amitabh Bachchan, followed by his Kaante costars who will perform at the awards in a routine choreographed by Shiamak Davar.

Sushmita Sen will perform to a number from Oscar winner Moulin Rouge. She told rediff.com excitedly, "I am doing this number as a tribute to Hollywood. Before Nicole Kidman performed this number, Marilyn Monroe had done it."

Sushmita and Bachchan are the only members of the Aankhen cast to arrive at the awards. It is unlikely that co-stars Akshay Kumar and Arjun Rampal will attend the film's premiere here on Friday; both men are away shooting their respective films.

Arjun, who is currently in South Africa, says, "I don't think I will make it for the premiere. I am running behind schedule. I can't leave my producer in the lurch."

Actor Sunjay Dutt and director Sanjay Gupta, partners in the Whitefeather Company which produced Kaante are already here. Says Gupta, "Kaante has been inspired by IIFA. When I attended the first IIFA Awards at the Millennium Dome in London, I was very impressed by the technical finesse. That was when Sunjay and I thought of making a film which would embody the same philosophy."

Dutt and Gupta will announce their second film Plan which stars Dutt, Dino Morea, Bikram Saluja and Rohit Roy. It will be directed by debutant Hriday Shetty.

About 250 mediapersons from all over the world have been invited to cover the awards. As Bachchan puts it, "The only reason for organising the awards abroad is that Indian cinema is not confined to India. It enjoys great patronage everywhere in the world. With Lagaan missing the Oscar by a whisker it only shows that Indian films are definitely of international standards."

Also read:
Looking IIFA