The IIFA Awards: Not in Our Name

I guess they're all too busy trying to Bollywoodise themselves. I was watching the Cannes coverage and one station mentioned that the last time India won a prize was 7 years ago - and it was a Malayalam movie then. Since then bupkis. What were the movies sent? Devdas. Am I surprised? No.

Jo, the number of Bollywood movies shot in London has quadrupled over the past five years. The number was 10 in 2001 to 40 last year. A further 160 films were shot at locations across Britain and if you see most of these movies are from Bollywood, same candy gloss story line, these are a big hit outside India.

It's all about business and profits and brandizing and to an extent Bollywood has made its imprint globally, check here.Bollywood is running where the money is and where they are invited with an open arm.

Jo, as you said it should be IBFA = International Bollywood Film Awards, as Indian is all inclusive
Kollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood and others

Jo:
I ranted about this once and was told to stop moaning as it ain't cool or words to that effect. After all, Hindi is our national language and as such, most of India speaks it is the bull I was fed.
You and I have to be satisfied with the special label of 'South Indians'!!

>> Amrita: Devdas was sent when there was a couple of good movies from other languages. Or did they even consider one of their own good movies, Swades? Even there within the Mumbai film industry exists the discrimination. What a pity!

>> Tanay: Bollywood is more 'show biz' than 'cinema'. They have the money and they have the glitz. I am not against branding Bollywood, but if they are branding bollywood as 'Indian Cinema' , I do have a problem. :-)

>> DG: Very bad and sad kind of situation...

how about USI? united states of south india :)

Jo and all,

Why are other films not part of IIFA?

>> Sanam: That is one thing I also would like to know and perhaps the organisers of IIFA or folks at Bollywood can and cannot answer.

Jo,

Why do non-bollywood organizations not make up their own version of IIFA?! something that will be genuinely Indian and not just hindi.

The non-bollywood organizations keep organizaing 'film' festivals (not the glamour melas) in various parts of the country. Most of them are small ones. And they may not believe in organizing glamour melas like IIFA.

And secondly, as I mentioned above I do not bother if they organize Bollywood melas in London, New York, Dubai or wherever... My problem with them is about projecting themselves as representatives of "Indian" cinema instead of Bollywood. There is a difference, I believe.

well... article is absolutely correct... but question is to be asked it's brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. oh! wait, Indians are blind, deaf and mute when they have to speak against Amitabh or Bachchans. When Bachchans do something wrong or stupid it is not even covered in news or journos don't want to bother, but when someone else does something small, Media go Crazy and plaster it all over the newspaper....

Indians need to open their eyes and ask this question to their so called "GOD" Amitabh, that why discrimination towards their counterparts who are from same country but different language.

they call themselves democratic, where is Amir Khan who doesn't speak towards something of his Calibre, and Subash Ghai, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, who just supported Amir khan, forget these morans, where is the south indian Film industry, go on protest and show these Idiots and ask to remove Indian from the IIFA.

Yes, one should protest. But protesting by itself will not solve much. How about floating South India's own Awards, festivals, etc to cater to South Indian language movies. You can name it the way you want to name it, Call it 'Greater India' if you want :)

Our main problem is, we have too many things dividing us than bringing us together. As such, we don't have a 'South Indian' industry - we have one each for Telugu, Tamil, Malyalam and Kannada films. If they unite under one common umbrella, then they can take on Bollywood and make a stance.
sigh

I think it should be called punjabi awards. most of the actors/actresses are punjabi. most who watch it abroad are punjabi.

DG - actually, the weird thing is there is a lot of crossover in terms of cinema down south. everybody watches Tamil movies for example and actors from all four states work in other states. But then you have stuff like what i read today in which the Kannada film industry is mad about Sivaji releasing in Karnataka. I know the film budgets and aesthetic differ wildly in the four states but still, i wonder why nobody's thought of your umbrella technique?

@ Chandra

you said the magic word: "most who watch it abroad are punjabi.". I might add Non south indians. ( I have always wondered why no one talks about western indians or eastern indians. Why is it only south(ern) indians who are referred separately)

Getting back to the discussion. These awards seem to be blessed on the basis of economics. Imagine awarding Rajnikanth to a population who does not even know about him, forget watching his movies.

But something that indians from the southern states can do, is to raise the demand for the kind of movies they want to see awarded in the overseas market world.

Sanam

You are right. I think many south Indians too watch bolly movies. I dont think it really matters what it is called. The BCCI, a private body calls its cricket team, the Indian cricket team....sub chalta hain.......I think Telugu, Tamil and Malayalee movies have a good audience but in terms of scale and audience they are nowhere near bollywood. On the other hand, when you look at viewership data, the biggest bollywood hit may have been watched by a max of 2% of the population (20 million viewers, average ticket price of Rs 30....please correct me if u have alternate data)....so much for the wide reach and popularity of our movies.....

rgds

Hey guys

I think we are going a little way off here. Personally, I would not like to see another IIFA for South Indian films. By classifying South Indians ourselves we are just widening this division. There is south Indian Film Fare awards, but has that helped to change the scene in anyways? No.

My problem with IIFA or Global Indian Film Awards kind of events is that they are selling Bollywood cinema as Indian cinema. This is something we should protest against (because there is rich cinema culture in a few other Indian languages) and I believe it would have the support of the law system too. Right? They cannot use the word Indian when they are not including movies other than Hindi. That kind of descrimination should go.

By suggesting alternate IIFAs for South Indian movies, we are actually going the so called Bollywood way - So much glamour and too little cinema.

@DG,

I wonder why do you demand unity among film makers from Southern states alone? Why not from other regional film makers (like bengali, marathi, assamese.... )? Do you think they are part of the bollywood gang?