The Indian film industry’s top award show sailed into Tampa on Saturday with a pirate-themed opening musical number and celebrities ranging from Slumdog Millionaire star Anil Kapoor to John Travolta and Kevin Spacey.
Before a crowd of some 20,000, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards started with the entrance of actors aboard a float built like a pirate ship — a nod to Tampa’s love of pirate-themed parties. The show was held in the United States for the first time.
The show was recorded and will be broadcast in June. IIFA says some 800 million people worldwide are expected to watch the event.
Co-hosts Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar demanded the key to Tampa from Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who was sitting in the front row at the city’s NFL stadium.
“I will give you this key if and only if you entertain us,” said Mayor Buckhorn, after which Kapoor and Akhtar climbed onstage and proceeded to have a mock sword fight.
But it was Travolta that made the crowd come to life. Priyanka Chopra pulled him onstage and Travolta did some signature moves from his 1994 blockbuster film Pulp Fiction.
Later, Hrithik Roshan presented Travolta with an award for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema, declaring the two-time Golden Globe winner “the coolest of them all.”
“I’m honoured. I’m humbled,” Travolta said.
Hollywood actor and two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey also wowed the crowd. He presented Deepika Padukone with the award for Entertainer of the Year.
Padukone and the co-hosts persuaded Spacey to don a lungi — a sarong — and dance to the wildly popular Lungi Dance, from the movie Chennai Express.
Before the show started, Travolta, Spacey and Indian film stars walked past hordes of international media outside the stadium. Unlike the Academy Awards, IIFA uses a green carpet instead of a red one.
The awards ended four days of well-attended events, much to the delight of Tampa tourism authorities and lovers of Indian film and culture.
Launched in 2000 at the Millennium Dome in London, the annual IIFA awards have travelled around the world in the hopes of exposing the genre to various audiences and opening trade markets.
IIFA organisers say the Indian industry sells 3.6 billion movie tickets a year, about a quarter of them in the US.
