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Bollywood – The face of India abroad
22nd June 2005 15.08 IST
By Agencies

Bollywood movies and stars took Amsterdam by storm during the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards and they are keen on having more of such shows in the Dutch Capital.

Various sections of people in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, shared their happiness over the event and wanted it be staged there next year.

It was evident when people of different nationalities and journalists of Indian origin from various parts of the world gathered in the picturesque city of Amsterdam to participate in the event which celebrates Indian cinema across the shores last week.

Described as ''Bollywood Oscars'' in the local print and electronic media, the event attracted lot of attention. The local media had published photographs of actors and films by downloading them from the internet.

People of Indian origin living in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague in the Netherlands as well as nearby England and Belgium travelled to the Dutch capital to catch a glimpse of the Bollywood superstars.

Many youngsters even waited outside the Grand, the hotel where the actors were residing to catch a glimpse of their favourite actors.

The filmstars were mobbed right from the time they stepped out of the planes at the Schipol airport.

So overwhelmed were the actors with the welcome that they responded with a warm ''I Amsterdam'', the slogan coined by Amsterdam Partners, the marketing agency appointed by the city council to promote the fascinating city of canals and bicycles.

The Dutch were aware of the fact that the Indian film personalities resent the word Bollywood. According to them, though the Indians do not like the word Bollywood as it is a take off from Hollywood, they can take heart as 'B' comes before 'H'.

Sadhana Singh from Rotterdam was waiting outside the Grand Krasnapolsky hotel for a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan and enquiring whether he is put up at the Kransapolsky or the Grand Amsterdam. ''I love him. I just want to see him and take a picture,'' She declared.

IIFA weekend should come to Amsterdam again next year, feels Shyam Sikand and the tickets for the grand finale should be reasonable. His views were echoed by several fans waiting outside the Olympic stadium.

"We cannot afford 260 Euros for better seats at the venue," he said and added that he and his family were satisfied having a glimpse of Urmila Matondkar , Kareena Kapoor and Salman Khan outside the Olympic stadium where the benefit cricket match was played.

A large group of Bollywood fans were people of Indian origin from Surinam settled in Amsterdam and from Britain, which is just 50 minutes by air.

Peter Wbinga of Amsterdam Partners said he had received queries from various agencies involved in city marketing on how Amsterdam had managed to bag the IIFA event. Both he and Sabas Joseph of Wizcraft, the event organiser said it was too early to say whether the IIFA weekend would return to Amsterdam next year too.

Thessa Mooij, a Dutch journalist based in New York, loved Parineeta which was premiered at the IIFA weekend. "I loved the humour. The film is of the Devdaas genre. Isn't it?" she asked. Obviously, she was not aware that Devdaas and Parineeta are literary works of Saratchandra Chhatopadhayay. Devdaas was more glamorous.

There was glitter and dazzle. While Parineeta was more restrained, she said drawing comparisons. According to her, she understood the film as the English sub-titles were good.

Her fascination for Bollywood stems from the fact that she has recently written an article for a local Dutch weekly profiling SRK.

Gabriele Ammermann, journalist and television producer from Germany, made it a point to see most of the films at the two-day film festival during the weekend. She wondered why Sanjay Dutt , one of the lead actors of Parineeta, did not come to Amsterdam. When told about his father Sunil Dutt 's demise, She said, ''Oh yes. I am aware of it. Read about the death on the internet''.

Els Wamsteeker, who is in charge of communication and media services of the Amsterdam tourism bureau, says she has heard about Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai . ''Oh, the names are very hard to pronounce,'' she said.

Sheela Narayanan, journalist of Indian origin, with ''The News Paper'' of the Singapore press holdings, said she covered the IIFA weekend in the city-state last year and decided to come to Amsterdam this year for coverage. ''Hindi films have a huge following in Singapore. I am originally a Malyali. South Indian films too are watched in Singapore. But Hindi films are the most preferred,'' she said.

Another young journalist of Indian origin from London liked Parineeta. ''This film is promising as compared to the recent films released. Even though most of the films do well at the box office. It is not necessary that they are quality films,'' he said.

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