Mumbai, June 13: Yorkshire pudding and Geoffrey
boycott are its most famous exports. Sachin Tendulkar is its
most famous import. But over the past weekend, the picturesque
county of Yorkshire in northern Britain earned the label of a
Bollywood hotspot after the IIFA awards ceremony.
The three-day IIFA weekend held in five cities of the
county not only gave the huge expatriate populace a glimpse of
their favourite stars but also boosted the tourism potential
of Yorkshire.
"We were asked many a time why we invested so much in
getting the IIFA here, but for us the question is purely of
getting in as many tourists as possible. Indians are the
biggest spenders in the UK and we want to cash in on that,"
Judith Donovan, chairperson of the Yorkshire Tourist Board,
said during the weekend.
The event was attended by the Who's Who of Bollywood,
thus lending huge visibility to the Yorkshire tourism
campaign, what with posters put up all over the place and
aggressive news coverage provided by local news channels.
But business aside, it was time for Englishmen to get a
taste of real Bollywood masala at the awards night on Saturday
as Shilpa Shetty, Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay
Kumar danced their way into Yorkshire.
While Hrithik Roshan walked away with the best actor
award, Rani Mukerjee got the best actress trophy for her
performance in "Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna".
Cult movie "Rang de Basanti" was adjudged the best film
while Raj Kumar Hirani was named the best director for "Lage
Raho Munnabhai".
But the IIFA weekend was not just about the awards. This
year the awards propagated the message of "global cool" by
asking people to reduce carbon emissions.
"We are not asking much from the people. If they just
make a small effort and change their lifestyle, it will make a
huge difference," IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan said.
The weekend also saw a FICCI-IIFA global business forum,
a celebrity cricket match and lots of film promotions and star
sightings.
Bureau Report
