It’s going to rain south Indian stars next month in the UAE. The second South Indian International Movie Awards (Siima), which debuted last year in Dubai, is coming back for a two-night celebration on September 12 and 13 at the Sharjah Expo Centre.
To make the announcement in Dubai on Tuesday, organisers employed the help of three of the industry’s current biggest stars – Rana Daggubati, Shriya Saran and Arya – who have wide appeal in all four southern states which includes Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and beyond. The three stars will host the main awards night on September 13, along with Bollywood star Sonu Sood.
“South Indian films are global and [the UAE] is a great platform to bring everyone together,” said Saran, who was last seen in Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of the Salman Rushdie book Midnight’s Children.
“India is a country that speaks so many languages and there is still very little awareness about the south Indian film industry. So it needs to be promoted, and events such as Siima will do that.”
More than 450 stars and personalities have been booked to attend the event, which will honour talents from films released in 2012 from across the four main southern languages. That includes Malayalam films from Kerala, Telegu from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil from Tamil Nadu and Kannada from Karnataka.
The appeal of south Indian films have been relegated to the four states and its citizens around the world but things are changing, said Daggubati, who hails from one of the biggest Telegu film families.
“Content is crossing over. The fact that I have been accepted in Hindi films is a good example of that,” he said. “I think there is definitely an effort to work together. The next project I’m working on, we’re filming in Hindi, Tamil and Telegu simultaneously. So it’s happening.”
“The fact that three of us from very different language backgrounds are hosting Siima sends out the right signal,” he added.
The Hindi film industry, which comes out of Mumbai, is popularly referred to as Bollywood, one of the world’s biggest film industries.
“If Hindi films are going global, why not south Indian films too?” said Tamil actor Arya, who popularly goes by one name. “And we shouldn’t target just Indians abroad, our appeal should be global.”
Saran, an accomplished dancer, will also perform along with other stars including Shruti Hassan, Reema Kallingal, Usha Uthup and Anirudh Ravichander, who composed the viral hit Kolaveri Di. Celebrities attending included Mohanlal, Dhanush, Asin Thottumkal, Puneeth Rajkumar, Upendra and Bollywood star Sridevi among others.
“We want Siima to be a catalyst which can accelerate the growth of south Indian films worldwide,” said Vishni Induri, the founder of Siima. “We want to take these south Indian stars and spread their appeal.”
And there is definitely potential, he added.
“If you think about it, the Malayalam-speaking population in the Middle East is huge, more than the Hindi-speaking people. Yet Bollywood film collections are bigger. So it’s a matter of creating awareness, introducing these stars to more people. And we want Siima to be that platform.”
After Dubai and Sharjah, the awards will be held in a completely different country, said Induri, who is also the founder and managing director of Celebrity Cricket League, the non-professional league made up of film stars spanning both Bollywood and south India.
When asked what they will bring to the event in September, Daggubati had a prompt response: “Entertainment with madness.”
*Siima will be held at Sharjah Expo Centre on September 12 and 13. Tickets are priced at Dh60 (Silver), Dh150 (Gold) and Dh1,000 (VIP, inclusive of celebrity area seating on both days). Go to dobazaar.com or buy from Dosa Plaza, Saravana Bhava and Choithrams outlets. For the full nominees list and ticket details, go to siima.in.
