IIFA Awards 2018 to be held in Bangkok; Karan Johar and Riteish Deshmukh confirmed as hosts

The International Indian Film and Academy (IIFA) Weekend and Awards will next month return to Bangkok after a decade for its 19th edition, which promises not just Bollywood’s glitz and glamour but support to environmental causes and cinema memorabilia too. [caption id=“attachment_3815263” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Still from IIFA[/caption] The gala will be held June 22-24 at the Siam Niramit Theatre, which is adorned by Thailand’s heritage, art and culture and hosts the country’s most-popular theatre production. Wizcraft International, the producers and creators of the IIFA, are gearing up to put up a Bollywood entertainment show interspersed with cultural elements from Thailand. Andre Timmins, one of the three forces behind Wizcraft International, told IANS: “We’re excited to go back to Bangkok. There are a lot of interesting things we are doing and we hope this edition becomes exciting for people to come and have fun.” Lisbon and Paris were the other places they were considering for this year. “But we chose Bangkok because we felt it’s close by and this year we thought we will go somewhere close. And Bangkok is a place that has changed tremendously. There are more flights, hotels, restaurants and our industry loves Bangkok,” Timmins said. The main awards gala on the last day will be hosted by the inimitable Riteish Deshmukh and Karan Johar, both known for their quick wit. Among the performers will be stars like Ranbir Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor. For Ranbir, returning to the IIFA stage would be special as he had won the Best Debutant Award at the 2008 Bangkok edition of the gala." The IIFA Rocks, a musical night which precedes the IIFA Awards ceremony night, will be co-hosted by Ayushmann Khurrana and Katrik Aaryan. Adding a unique charm to the event will be composer Pritam. “Pritam is doing a very interesting piece using a lot of local Thailand musicians and instruments. He is putting together something very different,” Timmins said. Apart from the visual spectacle they intend to offer, they IIFA has tied up UN Environment for the campaign “Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World Environment Day 2018. Dia Mirza, the UN Environment goodwill ambassador for India, will front this.   There will also be a IIFA-Ficci forum focusing on business-related elements. Last year, Karan Johar’s “nepotism rocks” stunt on the stage sparked a controversy in Bollywood. Are they going to be more careful about the show’s script this time? “We definitely are going to look at that. Every year is different, every year we use different scriptwriters and we will keep this in mind,” Timmins said with a laugh.