MUMBAI: If one is under the impression that there is an economic slowdown and that the film industry has gone slack because of the multiplex and producer impasse, they could not be more incorrect. Almost every top actor is busy with the shooting of their films and may not be able to attend the International Indian Film Academy Awards which will be held in the second week of June in Macao.
Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu are in Goa shooting for Rohit Shetty’s All the Best. The unit cannot take a break as the film needs to be completed before the monsoons.
Karan Johar will be shooting the final schedule of his film, My Name is Khan with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in San Francisco. This bids adieu to all three of them.
Salman Khan will be shooting for his television show, Dus Ka Dum and chances are remote that he would cancel shooting as he has already delayed the start of the show by a week as he was still shooting for his film, Veer in London.
John Abraham, who broke his ankle after a Laxmipathy Balaji delivery hit him is now confirmed that he will not make it for the event. While Ranbir Kapoor will be giving the ceremony a miss because of the beard he is growing for Shimit Amin’s film. Rani Mukherji has become a recluse, while Preity Zinta is on a holiday in the US after the debacle of Kings XI Punjab in the second season of the Indian Premier League.
Saif Ali Khan is already in London for the promotion of the sports channel ESPN and may not be able to make a getaway.
However, the confirmed list is quite star studded. Leading the list are the Bachchans…Amitabh, Jaya, Abhishek and Aishwarya. Hrithik Roshan, Zayed Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Imran Khan, Arjun Rampal, Farhan Akhtar, Asin, Sonam Kapoor, Genelia D’Souza, Riteish Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, and the latest lovebirds of tinsel town, Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra will all be walking the green carpet for the mega event.
Year after year our Bollywood celebrities attend this event with the hope of spreading the magic of our movies. And the magic has spread. Hollywood stars are now eager to work in our movies, be it Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richards or Kylie Minogue and likewise AR Rahman has now had to open a studio in New York and London as the demand for his work in the international arena has trebled post his double whammy at the Oscars. And for all this, we say Jai Ho….
