IIFA splits Bollywood wide open

By ndtv.com

Bollywood seems to be divided on the issue of attending the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards scheduled to be held in Colombo from June 3-5. Amidst pressure on the Hindi film industry to skip the IIFA ceremony, some film stars have decided to give IIFA a miss while many others have confirmed that they will attend the event. Let's see who will attend and who won't…

Amitabh Bachchan:Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan will not be attending the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards scheduled to be held in Colombo from June 3-5. "I am not going to IIFA," Bachchan tweeted in reply to a query about his plans. He did not provide any reason for his decision. 

Big B had earlier been targeted by Tamil groups who staged protests outside his residence in Mumbai last month and asked the actor to stay away from IIFA Colombo.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: Aishwarya is also likely to give IIFA a miss this year as the actress is busy with other assignments.

Abhishek Bachchan:Abhishek too won't be attending the film festival.

Arjun Rampal: Arjun Rampal will not be attending IIFA as he is busy promoting his movie Raajneeti, which releases on June 4, 2010.

Shah Rukh Khan: King Khan has also decided to give IIFA a miss citing prior work commitments. SRK was also supposed to be the captain of Bollywood cricket team, which is scheduled to play a charity cricket match involving Indian and Sri Lankan movie and cricket stars.

Mani Ratnam: In May noted filmmaker Mani Ratnam announced his intention to stay away from IIFA Colombo. His forthcoming film Raavan was to be screened at the three-day event. Although Ratnam said he wouldn't be attending because Raavan was not complete, there are speculations he did not want to risk alienating the Tamil film industry by going to Sri Lanka this year. Ratnam had premiered his Yuva at IIFA 2004 in Singapore.

Kamal Haasan: Kamal Haasan had also issued a statement, announcing his decision to boycott IIFA, hours after a group of Tamils staged a demonstration in front of his office in Chennai, demanding his resignation as Chairman of Media and Enertainment Conclave of FICCI. Kamal said his move was not pursuant to the demonstration and he had taken the decision long back, giving respect to the sentiments of Tamils.

AR Rahman: Music maestro AR Rahman too won't be attending IIFA. Rahman has decided to boycott the award function to snub the Lankan Government for its "genocide against the Tamils".

Katrina Kaif: Katrina Kaif will not be attending IIFA this year as she is in Venice.

Despite all that oppositions, a lot of film stars have decided to grace the occasion. 

Salman Khan: Salman Khan, who is the brand ambassador of the IIFA Charity Initiative will be attending the award function. Recently, members of the Tamil community staged a protest in Mumbai against the actor's proposed visit to Sri Lanka. According to rumours Salman is also scheduled to perform at IIFA.

Priyanka Chopra:Priyanka Chopra too has confirmed that she will be attending IIFA this year.

Ranbir Kapoor: Ranbir Kapoor will also be a part of the prestigious award function.

Kareena Kapoor:Kareena Kapoor will attend the award function.

Saif Ali Khan: Saif Ali Khan will also be there to give his lady love company at IIFA this year.

Bipasha Basu: Bipasha will also be attending IIFA and will be performing some of her popular numbers there.

Lara Dutta: Lara Dutta has also confirmed that she will be attending IIFA.