Tamil protests keep celebs away from IIFA (Bollywood vs Tollywood)

[mastana]

Tamil protests keep celebs away from IIFA

Mumbai: The organisers of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards could be ruing their decision to hold the ceremony in the Sri Lankan capital this year. Little did they imagine that the island’s Sinhala vs Tamil issue would suck Bollywood into its vortex. Because of strong protests by Tamil groups against IIFA holding the ceremony in Colombo, the top actors of tinsel town have cited prior commitments to give the occasion a miss. IIFA’s brand ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan, will not attend the function. His son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya are tied up with the promotional activity of their forthcoming film Raavan. The absence of the Bachchans will be significant given that IIFA has been viewed as their ‘family affair’ for years. DNA sent the senior Bachchan an SMS for comment, but he did not respond. Others likely to be absent are Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, and Imran Khan. Aamir Khan, as usual, will not attend. Shah Rukh tweeted: “I don’t think I will be able to come for IIFA…too much work here, will miss Colombo.” Tamil film personalities such as Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam, Vijay, Ajit and Surya will be keeping away from Colombo. While many have genuine work compulsions, sources, however, have indicated that a few of the actors fear they would lose out on popularity in film-crazy Tamil Nadu (TN) by attending the event. At the forefront of the protests against the hosting of IIFA in Colombo have been the recently-found groups Naam Tamilar (which staged a demonstration in front of Amitabh Bachchan’s bungalow and Salman Khan’s house) and Iyakkam (meaning ‘movement’), and the Vaiko-led party MDMK. The main TN parties, DMK and ADMK, have not expressed their stand on the issue. Iyakkam staged a demonstration in front of Kamal Hassan’s house, asking him to resign as chairman of Ficci’s Media & Entertainment Business Conclave. This, despite the actor saying he had no intention of going to Sri Lanka. “The event was earlier scheduled to be held in Seoul in South Korea. We do not know why it was shifted to Sri Lanka. But we are sure the event would not have been shifted without Ficci or Kamal Hassan knowing it,” Iyakkam’s Thirumurugan Gandhi told DNA. “We strongly object to Ficci describing Sri Lanka as New Sri Lanka, when international human rights forums have accused the Lankan government of war crimes.”

http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_tamil-protests-keep-celebs-away-from-iifa_1390871 :wall: :wall: Why do some people mix politics with everything?

[flamy]

wats bollywood vs tollywood here? both of them suck anyways :hehe:

[mastana]

wats bollywood vs tollywood here? both of them suck anyways :hehe:

They said they will avoid those actors who perform at IIFA awards and won't let their films release in South Indian states. B’wood’s colombo crisis!

Arm twisting may not be new to politics, but for Bollywood, the tactic has come as a shocker. In rapid developments in the last seven days, the International Indian Film Academy’s (IIFA) decision to hold the 11th awards ceremony in Colombo has raised a storm between the two power centres of Indian cinema – Bollywood and Tollywood. While it began with requests to shift the venue, the issue has now escalated to the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC) calling for a ban on actors who are attending IIFA in Colombo, which began yesterday. The pressure to change the venue began to mount earlier this week, as Tamil groups started protesting against the decision. They contended that the choice of venue would help the Sri Lankan government to present a perception of normalcy about the country which has been engaged in a civil conflict for the last 30 years. L Suresh, honourary secretary of SIFCC, said, “Can you have celebrations in a country that’s been unkind to Indians?” The first of many who boycotted the ceremony was actor Kamal Haasan, who announced his decision not to go to Colombo hours after a group staged a protest outside his house. Even though Haasan maintained that his decision had been taken earlier because he was moved by his “feelings for the issue”, the industry has read the message otherwise. Now, A R Rahman, filmmaker Shankar, superstar Rajinikanth along with other colleagues from across southern India have refused to attend the show. A few days ago, office-bearers of SIFCC had met their Bollywood counterparts and urged them to boycott the event but they declined since it was too late for them to back out. “We met JP Dutta, Manmohan, advisors of IIFA awards, but they felt that it would be difficult for them to call off at the eleventh hour,” says C Kalyan, president, SIFCC, adding, “We’ll definitely boycott artistes who’ll perform at the show.” The boycott includes preventing releases of their Hindi films in the four southern states and enforcing non-cooperation for those artistes, if they choose to work in southern movies. “It was a decision taken by the South Indian Film Employees’ Association since the Tamil issue is quite sensitive,” says Suresh. A protest was also held outside Salman Khan and Amitabh Bachchan’s house in Mumbai. It is said that Big B, the IIFA brand ambassador, will be shortening his speech and appearance at the show. Meanwhile, Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will not be attending the awards, citing prior work commitments. Earlier, Raavan was supposed to be screened at the ceremony, but director Mani Ratnam withdrew it last week, saying that it still needed work. “The film is not yet ready. We are still working on the background score. We are not going, the film is not going.” But, this stand of the South Indian film industry has not gone down well with ‘Bombaywallas’. Late on Wednesday night, actor Anupam Kher tweeted, “It is ironical nobody has banned or boycotted anybody for the plight of Kashmiri pandits... All from north or south go and shoot happy scenes and love songs in Kashmir while Kashmiri pandits are dying in refugee camps. WHY NO BAN.” That’s a question we’d leave the film industry to answer. Should we ban Murali too? jitengajaria: Tamil Film Industry plans to ban stars who go for IIFAaward in Sri Lanka. They why not ban Chennai Super Kings for Murali who plays for SL? sudhir_asb: WTF! Stars face boycott in South for attending IIFA. Politicising everything has become a #trend in India. freetheworld: First it was the boycott of the Paki @ IPL3, now its the IIFA. What next? India is becoming a terror freak ManavGangwani: In Colombo: On the way to the Hotel: with Security in Front & Back of the Car! Do U feel Special OR Scared? I am in deep thoughts! Anupam Kher: It is ironical nobody has banned or boycotted anybody for the plight of Kashmiri pandits thrown out of their homes in their own country. All from north or south go and shoot happy scenes and love songs in Kashmir while Kashmiri pandits are dying in refugee camps. WHY NO BAN. Unkind to Indians Can you have celebrations in a country that's been unkind to Indians? - L Suresh, honorary secretary of South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce Boycott artistes We’ll definitely boycott artistes who’ll perform at the show - C Kalyan, president,SIFCC We are not going We are not going, the film is not going - Mani Ratnam on Raavan Fair & just decision The SIFCC's decision is a very fair and just one. Sri Lanka wants to hide the atrocities committed there and enhance its reputation by conducting this function there. So, it is only fair that our artistes do not help that country do so. - Sundar C , Actor & Director

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Entertainment/Bollywood/News-Interviews/Bwoods-colombo-crisis/articleshow/6007480.cms

[yoda]

Seems like a useless move. We should be working with the UN and SL govt to make sure that the plight of the ethnic Tamils, especially those who were most affected in the aftermath of the final operations are taken care of. Not holding a cine awards festival isn't to make any difference to the lives of those who are suffering there.

[zubinpepsi]

Seems like a useless move. We should be working with the UN and SL govt to make sure that the plight of the ethnic Tamils' date=' especially those who were most affected in the aftermath of the final operations are taken care of. Not holding a cine awards festival isn't to make any difference to the lives of those who are suffering there.[/quote'] well isnt the same for even cricket.. when BCCI dint wanna play against pakistan and IPL boycotted pak players.. wonder how those boycotts wud have helped the sufferings of people who were the victims of various bomb blasts by pak terrorists.. i dint see anyone making this point then.. :dontknow: ps: i dont support these boycotts btw.

[triam]

Tamil film industry is nt tollywood it is kollywood (because kodambakkam a suburb of chennai is the center for film stars), telugu film industry is tollywood.

[yoda]

well isnt the same for even cricket.. when BCCI dint wanna play against pakistan and IPL boycotted pak players.. wonder how those boycotts wud have helped the sufferings of people who were the victims of various bomb blasts by pak terrorists.. i dint see anyone making this point then.. :dontknow: ps: i dont support these boycotts btw.

it helps in that case because cricket is very important to p@kis, so it is a very high profile way of raising the issue of terrorism other than ofc other available channels. don't think SL people or govt care if we hold these awards there or not, hence no point.

[Temujin Khaghan]

tollywood means telugu film industry.

[punjabi_khota]

down with the southies :protest:

[Zap_Brannigan]

Its all about money like everywhere else.The 2nd biggest market of tamil movies after indians are Sri lankans esp who are now settled down in Singapore,Malaysia and middle east. Tamil movie industry doesnt want to isolate them. It is something similar to SRK appeasing pakis or hypothetically when Bollywood wouldnt want this event in UK if the British govt treats its Asian population badly. Why the fk do these idiots care about Sri Lankans this much? Its ok to condemn/criticize them personally but forcing others to follow them is bad. But this is India. Hopeless case. What else do you expect. No dignity or morality. Move on.