IIFA's Ramifications

Here is a letter the MyBindi.com Editor received this morning from one of our readers, Lachman Balani, commenting on the 2011 IIFA Awards in Toronto:

Dear Editor,

Even though many South Asians in the GTA are euphoric about the upcoming International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Toronto, I wish to express my opinion (and those of several others) from a different angle.

Why has the Ontario government apportioned so much money for hosting the IIFA awards here in Toronto? What is the benefit to the Ontarians and Canada at large? According to the official IIFA website, the event is supposed to draw 40,000 visitors only*. Shouldn’t that money be diverted to the underfunded Gay Pride and Caribana festivals that draw over a million visitors? I feel that the Ontarians taxpayers’ money has been abused to enrich a few Indian actors who are already rich. That money will surely be whisked away from Canada.

To add insult to injury,we taxpayers are being further milked for $40 by Rogers to watch the IIFA awards being beamed live. Why? Haven’t we been taken advantage of enough? The original Oscars are broadcast free of charge all over the world, yet we must pay for the ‘Indian Oscars?’

Besides, IIFA’s motto is ‘One people, one world’. Shouldn’t they be spreading this word and the Indian Bollywood culture to the rest of the world for FREE, especially to those who are hosting them? The GTA is home to people of many diverse cultures and backgrounds and this would be an excellent opportunity to show them what our Indian Bollywood culture is all about. Instead they choose to charge us which in all probability will exclude other cultures. It has already excluded many South Asians who are scrimping and saving to make ends meet. So much for their ‘One people, one world’ theme.

Furthermore, for those who wish to pay and watch the IIFA awards live, there are no tickets available and not because the venue cannot accommodate the demand but because the promoters have chosen to limit the seats to 22,000(according to a Toronto Star article)** in a venue that can seat more than 50,000 people. A viewing of the seating on ticketmaster will also corroborate that only part of Rogers Centre has been booked. In other words, even those who can afford the tickets are being turned away.

It’s a real shame that IIFA has not taken full advantage of this golden opportunity to showcase Bollywood to all the diverse people in what is considered to be the most multi-cultural city in the world. It is a super shame that Ontario has decided to use our tax dollars to make the foreign rich even richer instead of for the benefit of Ontarians.

                                   - -  Lachman Balani

So what are your thoughts? Has the GTA benefited from the IIFA Awards? Or, has it been a colossal waste of money?

We welcome your feedback. Please post your comments below.

Comments

[Preeti D]

I agree that amongst all the euphoria, it is forgotten that Canadian tax dollars are being used to promote already very rich stars who come from film dynasties and who lip synch their performances. Personally I think it is dishonest of them as they are piggybacking their dance routine on a troupe of performers and also at the same time diminishing the real singer.

Would you ever see any Hollywood stars, just to take an example - Nicole Kidman, performing Moulin Rouge songs and strutting around a stage pretending it is her song.

[Preeti D]

Imagine the uproar if we had to pay 40 dollars per game to watch the hockey playoffs? I would like to see more support from our local tv stations to promoting sport and entertainment. Whats the point of paying for ATN on top of the Rogers/Bell basic charge, but still not being able to watch the world cup cricket or IIFA without paying an arm and a leg more. It wont get more people interested in the game and in the end ATN will lose business. I watched the world cup over the internet as I am sure I will watch the IIFA's too sooner or later.

It is sad that immigrants usually get milked by other immigrant service providers and its time we started writing to our MPs to structure the multicultural programming to include more sports and entertainment that matter.