Sri Lankan beauty queen and Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez urged her countrymen to maintain a united front so that the 11th edition of the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) can run smoothly in Colombo.
Last week, IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan and host Fernandez were in Colombo to announce the dates of IIFA weekend, which in turn sparked protests from Tamil groups.
"Gosh, I am just really hoping that people would see the bigger picture here. I hope they all come together as one as one Sri Lanka," said Fernandez in an interview with tabloid!.
On Sunday, a Tamil group had staged a protest in front of Bachchan's residence in Mumbai prompting the senior actor to blog: "A Tamil group picketed my houses, asking me to not conduct IIFA in Sri Lanka. I beckoned personnel from Wiz [Wizcraft] who own and conduct IIFA, to come and meet me to discuss this matter and give it due importance."
But an optimistic Fernandez vouched that her country is excited about hosting the prestigious Bollywood event.
"I think the whole of Sri Lanka is feeling the buzz. We are all just so excited. We appreciate Hindi actors and in fact my father speaks fluent Hindi after watching all those Hindi films. Apart from Tamil films, Hindi films are big in Sri Lanka."
The IIFA weekend will be held from June 3 to 5.
