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At home in South Africa
Photo: S. Subramanium.
Amitabh Bachchan with the South African High Commissioner to India, Ms. Maite Mokoana Mashabane addressing the Press in New Delhi.
"LET LOCAL people of South Africa have a slice of Hindi Films, we have so many internal award functions," this is Amitabh Bachchan addressing those raising an objection as to why Indian film awards are being given away outside the country.
The reference is to Samsung International Indian Film Academy Awards that take place at Johannesburg this coming Saturday to be telecast live on Sony Entertainment Television.
"I went to South Africa for the first time in 1990 when Nelson Mandela was just released from the jail. We organised a Hindi film show in a football stadium. Surprisingly, it turned out to be an overwhelming success. The stadium was full three hours in advance. That gave me an idea why can't the local people be exposed to Hindi films? Most Hollywood films earn one-sixth to one-seventh of their revenue by releasing outside their country. Typical Hollywood films have a very short viewership in their own country."
The awards this time come as a result of "public voting". "Devdas" grabs award in almost all categories: choreography, make up, costume, sound recording, cinematography, dialogues, art direction etc while "Raaz" gets one for best screenplay and "Satahiya", "Company" and "Kaante" in other categories. From this year IIFA announces two special category awards, Samsung Diva and Style Icon. While Honey Irani's "Armaan" premiers there, Anil Sharma announces his new film amid lots of films stars performing on stage including Shilpa Shetty, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali. Anil Kapoor and Diya Mirza host the show.
A host of Indian and South African cricketers and film stars from both countries will play a celebrity charity match, the funds of which will go to unsung off-stage staffers.
The idea was mooted by Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan and Sunil Shetty after an unfortunate incident of the death of three technical staffers proved an eye-opener while shooting for "LOC".
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