IIFA could have held their 8th annual awards in sexy New York, but instead they plumped, to everyone’s surprise, for Yorkshire!
LONDON: IIFA could have held their 8th annual awards in sexy New York, but instead they plumped, to everyone’s surprise, for the northern English county of Yorkshire!
The International Indian Film Academy awards began six years ago with a glittering gala at the newly constructed Millienium Dome. From there, it was held annually at exotic places like Malaysia, South Africa and Dubai and now it will be in Yorkshire!
Yorkshire, known mostly for its wet, dreary weather, has never really been considered exotic by international standards, nor has it been thought of as the jewel in the British crown. Yet the former industrial towns of Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Hull and York managed to beat off competition to win the bid that will hopefully put them on the map of Bollywood.
Even Keith Vaz, the Member of Parliament from Leicester sounded surprised when he launched the IFFA awards weekend at a crowded conference in the House of Commons on Wednesday, noting that his only real memory of the county was a soap opera called ‘Emmerdale Farm’ that he watched in his childhood.
However Yorkshire had pitched hard to win the IIFA bid knowing that a Bollywood awards ceremony in its town could mean a lot of economic benefits for the area. It hopes to showcase its tourism, culture, business, film locations and creative industries to an international audience and attract around 28,000 visitors to the region just for the awards.
To be held between June 7 and 10, the IIFA weekend hopes to draw tourists from Europe, US, India and South East Asia for the event, who will spend in the region of £9.5 million, plus the knock on effect of future tourism.
Amitabh Bachchan, IIFA’s brand ambassador called “one of the most famous men in the world” by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, tried to explain the venue of Yorkshire by saying, “IIFA is committed to taking Indian cinema across the globe,” and spoke of the warmth of the people from the region.
Judith Donovan, chairman of Yorkshire Tourist Board spoke of “Yorkshire’s romantic landscapes, cosmopolitan cities, great houses, castles and gardens, as well as contemporary theatre and cutting edge music venues.”
The bid has been branded ‘Yorkshire — Love at first sight’ — very Yash Chopra and perfect to win the hearts of Bollywood. Yorkshire has already seen three Hindi films shot in its locales in the last two years and hopes IIFA awards will mean a lot more business.
Surprisingly, however, no one mentioned the one thing that goes in favour of Yorkshire as a venue for Bollywood awards — the captive audience in the shape of the large population from the Indian Sub-continent who have been living in the area for the last 40 years. That is probably the real reason!
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