IIFA Awards – ho hum!!

Sometimes, people tend to go bonkers inspite of holding an international repute and lots of respect. IIFA awards night was certainly no exception to this rule and the ‘sarkar’ family of bollywood looked too raunchy hoisting themselves all along, once again through IIFA. When you say you have this platform to represent Indian Cinema to the international audience, you should be really careful. It better not be a ‘one family show’ which it has been, since its inception. What are you trying to prove, anyway? Is it a ‘Kaun banega bollywood ka badshah’ contest?

As I watched the IIFA night unfold on my telly screen, I could not help but to sympathize with the audience who were exposed to the typical fanfare of our cinema, sans the major players!!!! The ceremony was too conspicuous with the absence of major stars like Shahrukh (Who seems to have sworn to abhor IIFA till Bachchan Saaab’s reign is on), Salman (Who took all the limelight from the Bachchans last year), Hrithik (Too confused about the camp politics, maybe!), Priety Zinta (Busy gathering info on cricket), Shahid and Vidya (Do we know the reasons? ahem..), Sanjay, Dharmendra clan and Amir, who of course does not attend these tamaashas.

Most of the show would have been digestable, if not for the terrible two – Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh. In the beginning itself, their proclamation that they were going to be terrible hosts – came very true. They jumped like monkeys, they wallowed in their sarcasm and spoofed like it was their sole business. I couldn’t understand why they were shouting all along. Maybe their headfones were defunct, or they had some hearing disorder or they thought most of the audience had hearing disroder, I tried to console myself thus. Still the urge to get out there and ask them to take a chillpill it was getting stronger. Wish someone told them how terrible they were. They made jokes on everyone including the Senior Bachchan, as if the award functions were meant for that. Though the spoofs on Sarkar, Om Shanti Om and Guru were okay, the one’s on Taare Zameen Par was in very bad taste. The duo made remarks on Amir’s absence in all the award functions. A superb movie such as ‘Taare Zameen Par’ wasn’t properly mentioned. Instead Boman and Riteish came up with a spoof that portrayed the movie in bad taste to the audience. The movie, for the first time in the history of Indian cinema brought out the problems of a totally neglected chunk of society effectively and what does our so-called international Indian film fraternity do? They promptly spoof it and laugh it off. Shame on you guys!! Time to grow up, period. Why are we being so hard on each other? Karan Johar was seen smiling at all the Shahrukh Jokes, being the only representative of the Khan camp. It looked like the Bachchan family hasn’t taken the world tour rejection very kindly and was hell bent on venting it’s fury that night. Vivek Oberoi looked smiled excessively. Saif looked creepy with his shades on. Otherwise the happy couples looked great, held hands and posed well.

Govinda and Akshay were their usual charming self. They performed with an amazing energy which only comes with years of hardwork and a penchant to entertain. Harman baweja dispelled all the controversies of being a Hrithik-lookalike by dancing miserably. Priyanka was mesmerizing. Kareena and Katrina should seriously consider hiring some good dance trainers. Shyam Benegal’s award was sensible and so was Mumtaz’s. But there were certainly better music compositions last year than AR Rehman’s for Guru. Chak De India found some mention. Everyone wants to be in the next Shimit Amin movie after shahrukh’s success. Many people who really represented movie industry looked totally out of place, sidelined and uncomfortable, faking smiles for the benefit of camera. Why is it that there is no representation for regional cinema when ‘Indian’ cinema is presented on an international platform? Are regional movies not equal to hindi movies? if yes, is bollywood being properly represented through IIFA? If yes, it’s time to cackle and say boo. If no, it’s time to grow up, IIFA.