Indian Oscars return as Abu Dhabi hosts Bollywood bash

Bollywood’s brightest stars will collect in Abu Dhabi on Saturday because the Indian Oscars return for the primary time for the reason that pandemic shuttered cinemas and turned audiences on to streaming.

Host Salman Khan and actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan shall be among the many A-listers on the Worldwide Indian Movie Academy Awards celebrating the Hindi-language film trade, the world’s most prolific.

The glitzy present follows a field workplace hunch when movie-mad India was hit onerous by Covid-19, with US streaming giants comparable to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video speeding to fill the hole.

“I am excited to carry out at Abu Dhabi earlier than a dwell viewers. I am certain it’s going to be a enjoyable present,” mentioned actor Shahid Kapoor, who will dance on the first IIFA awards since 2019.

“I am very nervous however I hope I can do my finest,” Kapoor advised reporters, sporting a pale blue swimsuit with fastidiously coiffed hair.

“Shershaah”, the biopic of a battle hero killed within the 1999 Kargil battle with Pakistan, leads the best way with 12 nods, with “83” — the story of India’s 1983 cricket World Cup victory — nominated for 9 awards.

Historic drama “Sardar Udham”, motion pic “Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior” and “Thappad”, a drama tackling India’s issues with home violence, spherical out the most effective image nominations.

Actual-life intrigue shouldn’t be far-off. One performer shall be actor Rhea Chakraborty, who was arrested on drug expenses in 2020 after her boyfriend, actor Sushant Singh Rajput, allegedly dedicated suicide.

Chakraborty wanted clearance to journey to Abu Dhabi and is below circumstances set by a Mumbai courtroom together with attending the Indian embassy on daily basis.

The present can also be happening as police probe the loss of life of famend Bollywood singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, or “KK”, who died after a live performance in Kolkata of a suspected coronary heart assault this week. Media experiences mentioned there have been accidents to his face and head.

– Indian diaspora –

Pumping music and scantily clad performers shall be a change of scene for Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ oil-rich capital which has been upgrading its staid picture with imported sights together with Method One.

The awards have been held at venues around the globe together with London, Madrid, Johannesburg and Singapore, reflecting Bollywood’s broad attraction and the sprawling Indian diaspora.

The Hindi-language movie trade was price $2.5 billion in 2019 and produces extra films than another. India additionally releases a whole bunch of movies in its 21 different official languages yearly.

However pandemic lockdowns despatched the trade right into a tailspin, with multiplex chains struggling main losses and dozens of small cinemas going bust.

In a rustic the place cinema visits are central to cultural life, India’s media and leisure earnings slumped by 1 / 4 to $18.7 billion in 2020, based on accounting agency EY.

The theatre closures prompted a surge in subscriptions to streaming platforms with American companies Netflix, Prime and Disney’s Hotstar tapping into a pointy progress in on-line audiences.

Some big-budget Indian movies had been launched straight onto streaming platforms, comparable to comedy-drama “Gulabo Sitabo” starring Bollywood nice Amitabh Bachchan, which went out on Amazon in Could 2020.

Nonetheless, cinemas have made a strong restoration since restrictions had been eased, with non-Hindi films like “Pushpa”, “KGF” and “RRR” from southern India making brisk enterprise.