By Aarti Kapur Singh.
….with a touch of fiction?
What actually goes on behind the scenes to create the magic that was finally presented to the world, at the International Indian Film Academy Awards 2015? Well, The Indian Telegraph was there sharing selfies with the stars, but also buzzing about backstage, talking to organisers, producers, hairdressers, make up artistes, chefs and all the critical, yet unsung heros who make sure that the show goes on, despite star nakhras and wardrobe malfunctions.
Months of planning, thousands of individuals and clockwork precision is what it takes to turn IIFA into a spectacle of pageantry, choreographed performances, and an extravagant production that rivals the Oscars or the Grammys. Here are some interesting facts about the event:
* The IIFA awards 2015 had the quickest turnaround amongst all previous IIFA events. The decision to have the party at Kuala Lumpur was finalised only in February, so every department had virtually around four months to go from planning to execution
* A total of 5000 people from India and Malaysia were involved in turning the IIFA dream into reality. These included top bosses who planned, to those that executed their ideas – from scriptwriters to costume designers, dancers, hairsdressers, set makers, carpenters – the list is pretty much endless
* Shiamak Davar, chorographer for the IIFA awards performances practiced with 25 stars for the ceremony
* The East India Company that usually writes the anchors’ and hosts’s scripts for IIFA awards, wasn’t the first choice to do the honours. In fact, the very popular and equally controversial All India Bakchod was approached to pen the script for the new hosts. For reasons unexplained (and better understood), the AIB team did not get to do this
* At any given time, the Ritz-Carlton and J W Marriott hotels – the two main residences of the Mumbai film fraternity, were guarded by 50 security persons each!
* Talking about the need for security, Hrithik Roshan’s performance at the upscale mall Pavillion in central KL saw 2000 screaming fans cheering him
* And finally, the big figures. While nobody will actually disclose this one, buzz is that the IIFA 2015 cost 500 million! This is, we may add, from a very reliable source.
The Indian Telegraph Sydney Australia