Prepare to be hit with Bollywood glamour (and probably traffic), if you happen to be grazing around the Siam Niramit or Marriott Marquis Queen's Park areas this weekend.
Bangkok is hosting the 19th edition of the International Indian Film Academy Awards from today until Sunday.
Also known as the IIFA, this award ceremony is held in a different country every year to celebrate Indian cinema, music, dance and fashion, with megastars enthralling audiences with their performances. First kicking off in London in 2000, the IIFA Awards have been to countries such as the Netherlands, South Africa, Canada, Macau, the US, Sri Lanka, Spain, UAE and even Thailand, for the first time back in 2008.
Headliners said to be touching down for this year's edition include Ranbir Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Shahid Kapoor, Bobby Deol, and Kriti Sanon, with Karan Johar hosting. On top of that new crop of relatively younger actors and actresses, it has been revealed that Rekha, one of Indian cinema's most reputed actresses, is set to make another appearance after her last award-show performance in 2004. The 63-year-old will be starring in the show's finale at Siam Niramit on Sunday.
The awards show and ceremony are invite-only, but fans of India's silver screen can still get in the mood with "Osian's IIFA Cinema Heritage Exhibition", held at Times Square. To celebrate the occasion, Madame Tussaud's at Siam Discovery will open a permanent IIFA Awards-themed zone. Four of Bollywood's most esteemed actors -- Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan and Prabhas Raju -- will be welcoming visitors. If just in wax and not in flesh, they will be all the more patient selfie partners.
Further highlights include the Bollywood Production Studio, where visitors can see genuine filming props and delve into the filming-in-process atmosphere. Of course, no Bollywood experience would be complete without some singing and dancing, so there will be a dancing challenge at the "Bollywood Augmented Reality Dance" zone. Those with itchy feet can dance to thematic tunes sung by the latest actor-turned-singer, Varun Dhawan, and afterwards watch how well they did as hidden cameras capture their every move.
To wrap up the visit, fans can walk on the IIFA Award's signature Green Carpet. Against a topical backdrop, with sparkling trophies and an awards podium, you can have your own celebrity shots taken and feel like a superstar even if you won't be attending the actual event this weekend.
For more information about the IIFA Awards, visit iifa.com. Tickets for Madame Tussaud's are 990 baht and 790 baht for children.
