Saturday 9th June 2007: The glitterati of the Indian film industry descended upon Sheffield’s Hallam FM Arena for the Idea IIFA Awards 2007 – a grand finale to the action-packed IIFA Weekend that brought 500 luminaries of Indian cinema to the host region of Yorkshire. Shilpa Shetty, Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif were but a few of the stars of Indian cinema to wow the onlooking international media, cineastes and fans alike, as they graced the Green Carpet with all the glamour and grandiose of Indian cinema. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s phenomenal Box Office success, the BAFTA-nominated Rang De Basanti (Colour of Sacrifice) swept an impressive four accolades at the awards ceremony, including Idea IIFA Award for Best Picture. For the full list of award-winners, please see Notes to Editor below. As part of IIFA 2007’s commitment to “Going Green” and to reinforce their partnership this year with Global Cool by using the vehicle of Indian cinema as a medium through which to raise awareness of the extent and gravity of climate change, all of the Red Carpets at the plethora of celebrity events of the IIFA Weekend, including the star-studded Idea IIFA Awards, were replaced by the Green Carpet. The celebrities also came together to pledge their support and endorse the important awareness campaign, such as Shilpa Shetty, who graced the event in a shimmering emerald green evening dress. The spectacular Idea IIFA Awards 2007 was hosted by vivacious ex-Miss Universe and industry starlet, Lara Dutta, accompanied by comedy kingpin, Boman Irani, while industry golden boy and filmmaker, Karan Johar, presented the awards section of the unforgettable evening. MP’s, international stars and high profile figures such as Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, actor Colin Firth and Olympic silver-medal winner Amir Khan, were among the guests to present the prestigious awards at the ceremony, including the IIFA for STAR TV Award Debut of the Year Male Award, that was presented to British-Asian heartthrob, Upen Patel, for his phenomenal debut in 36 China Town.After days of arduous rehearsals, dazzling stage performances were made by Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Bipasha Basu, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan and Govinda, Emraan Hashmi and Aftab Shivdasani. The events of the IIFA Weekend are expected to have boosted tourism in the host region Yorkshire by more than £9.5m and attracted 30,000 extra visitors from all over the world. More than 500 luminaries from the Indian film industry travelled to the region for the spectacular event along with some of the world’s best-known international celebrities. The event will be broadcast globally by STAR TV to reach nearly 500 million viewers in 110 countries.
