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Sarkar Raj

Bangkok gears up for IIFA Awards
01st May 2008 13.00 IST
By Agencies

The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards will be unveiled in June in Bangkok, organizers announced at a news conference in Bangkok on Wednesday.

The IIFA Awards on June 8 are a part of the IIFA Weekend to take place in Bangkok June 6-8 this year.

The three-day event will include a Global Business Forum, an Indian Fashion Extravaganza that reflects the trends and styles that rule the Indian film industry a world premier of the new Indian thriller epic Sarkar Raj and climax into a "Green Carpet" walk toward the climax IIFA Awards ceremony at Bangkok's Siam Niramit opera house in Bangkok.

From last year, the IIFA has changed the color of its star carpet walk from the Oscar-tradition red to green, to comply with the movement's engagement in fighting global climate change.

At the press conference Thailand's Minister of Tourism and Sports Weerasak Kowsurat welcomed the IIFA to Thailand, expressing his appreciation for IIFA's efforts to build bridges between cultures using films.

"When you sit in the same dark cinema, watching the same movie, you would not care about which nationality, which creed... the one sitting beside you holds," said Bollywood mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan , IIFA' s Brand Ambassador.

Latha Reddy, Indian Ambassador to Thailand, hoped Bangkok's hosting this year's IIFA event will bring further closer the political, economic and cultural ties between India and Thailand, which has seen over 30 Indian films shot in Thailand in the last two years, 550,000 Indian tourists to Thailand in 2007, and a bilateral trade value of 4.7 billion U.S. dollars last year.

The IIFA was established as an organization to promote Indian cinema beyond India and create more cultural exchange and business opportunities for the industry.

Since started in 2000, the past eight IIFAs have been held in eight cities, six countries outside India, with the previous one in Yorkshire, Britain. Bangkok is its ninth venue. It is the most- watched entertainment event in India, boasting a viewership of almost 600 million.

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