How Times of India Film Awards influences British Columbia elections

Here’s the story in a capsule. Wizcraft International Entertainment, who own the International Indian Film Academy Awards, is in discussions with officials of the government of British Columbia for the next IIFA Awards to be held in Vancouver. Elections in British Columbia are due on 14 May, and the government representatives negotiating with Wizcraft want the event to be held before that. Wizcraft says it is not possible.

Exit Wizcraft and IIFA, stage left.

Enter Times of India and the Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA) stage right.

The Times of India agrees to host TOIFA ahead of the government deadline - and will now host it on 6 April, 2013. The British Columbian government will support TOIFA with $9.5 million in government funding.

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[caption id=“attachment_665408” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image: From Times of India Film Awards Facebook page[/caption]

Why is British Columbia so interested in a Bollywood award show? Perhaps the answer lies here. Indians (those with Indian ethnic origins) form 5.7 percent of the population of British Columbia. Punjabi is the third most popular language in British Columbia, after English and Chinese languages, with 4 percent of the population in BC reporting ‘Punjabi’ as their mother tongue. Hindi, Urdu, Gujrati and Tamil account for another 1.1 percent.

That makes any Bollywood Awards theoretically attractive to 5.7 percent of the population of BC. To get this 5.7 percent on your side during an election would be useful, to say the least.

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And the star-studded line up will help. Sukhwinder Singh, who sang “Jai Ho” for Slumdog Millionaire will be there, as will Mohit Chauhan, Sunidhi Chauhan and Hard Kaur, among others.

“The inaugural TOIFAs, which celebrate the Hindi film industry, has been advertised by the B.C. government as a major economic event for the Lower Mainland.

Floor seats for the concert are going for $375 to $500 with other tickets priced at $150 through Ticketmaster. Exclusive packages for all the TOIFA events are selling for between $2,500 to $3,250.

A gala film awards ceremony will be held at BC Place on April 6 and will feature major Indian celebrities including Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan, said a news release from organizers this week. Floor seats for the awards show are going for $300 to $500,” says Huffington Post.

That’s a lot of money (in addition to the $9.5 million grant from the government) going TOIFA’s way.

If TOIFA helps British Columbia winner Christy Clark get re-elected, perhaps the UPA should consider signing on the next edition of TOIFA, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.