IIFA Charity Cricket Match
  A day before the Indian
International Film Academy Awards 2010, Indian celebrities will play a
charitable cricket match against the Sri Lankan cricketers. Salman Khan
is the ‘Ambassador of Change’ for this initiative. Speaking about his
association, Salman says, “I support IIFA’s initiative to give back to
the Sri Lankan people, due to the recent hardships they have faced. I
believe that it is crucial to make a difference and contribute to this
worthy cause.
IIFA has successfully built bridges between countries over the last
decade, and I hope this initiative will do the same for Sri Lanka. I am
happy to be an ‘Ambassador for Change’.” Proceeds from the charity match
will go towards rebuilding a village in Sri Lanka that houses refugees.
Also, former child-soldiers will be rehabilitated and educated.
They will also get a chance to volunteer at the IIFA awards. The
village will be eco-friendly with solar cookers and heaters. IIFA Awards
2010 will take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 5. Once again, Lara
Dutta, Riteish Deshmukh and Boman Irani will be hosting the award
ceremony. After a gap of 5 years, Shahrukh Khan will be attending the
11th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards 2010 too. In fact,
SRK will be performing at the event on stage and also taking part in the
celebrity charity cricket match during the IIFA weekend.
Shahrukh has hit back at reports that he might not attend the IIFA
event due his not so ‘warm’ relationship with IIFA brand ambassador
Amitabh Bachchan.
Organisers of the event reveal that SRK will be attending and giving
the function his full support by performing the grand finale.
Interestingly, Salman Khan is also to perform at the prestigious
awards event. He has been chosen as the IIFA brand ambassador for
charity by Amitabh Bachchan and it looks as if he has been finally
forgiven by the Bachchan family for his Aishwarya connection from the
past. Salman said, “Me, Salman Khan, am coming to Sri Lanka very soon on
3rd, 4th, 5th.”
 He told a press conference that he and Hands for Habit are going to
be donating about $100,000 to make about 100 homes in Jaffna.”
When Salman was asked about SRK attending the event and was he okay
sharing the same stage, he completely ignored the reporter, turned his
face and responded to another question in the press conference and said,
“Yes, what were you saying.” This evidently shows that he is still not
at all acknowledging SRK in any manner. Since SRK and Salman are not
exactly seeing eye-to-eye since their break up at Katrina’s birthday
party, many speculations of how the two will react to each other are
doing the rounds.
Now, the additional masala to this story is that Shahrukh will be the
captain of the Indian Bollywood Stars Charity Cricket team that is to
play against the Sri Lankan Cricket Team, with one of the celebrity
players being Salman Khan. So will the two ‘act’ on the pitch for the
sake of the charity match? Or will they make their split still very
obvious? No doubt we will find out soon because the match, which will
help raise funds for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers, will
be played at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo on 4th June
2010.
Lara Dutta, who will be hosting the awards for the fourth time, says,
“I am very excited because it shows the audience another side of actors.
A lot of our dialogues are spontaneous. IIFA is helping people displaced
by the Tsunami and the civil war. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country and I
have been there several times and look forward to being there again.”
Boman Irani, says, “We feel like the three idiots of IIFA but instead
of three guys, we have the beautiful Lara Dutta with us. I have been to
Sri Lanka for advertisement shoots many years ago.” The trio said they
will spoof a lot of films and actors, but it should all be taken in
jest.
 With the Bachchan family always being a strong part of the IIFA event
every year, this year Aishwarya and Abhishek will not be present in Sri
Lanka. According to Ash’s official spokesperson, “Ash had confirmed her
presence at the finals of the French Open Tennis Championships in
advance. Her watch brand is the official time keeper of the Roland
Garros event and as such, Ash is required to make an appearance.”
Abhishek will not be at the event due to clashing shooting schedules for
Abhinay Deo’s ‘Game’ in Istanbul. After a short schedule in Greece for
the same film, he flew to Cannes for the annual film festival and is now
headed for Istanbul.
The award ceremony is to be hosted by Boman Irani, Riteish Deshmukh
and Lara Dutta. Other Bollywood celebrities like Saif Ali Khan, Kareena
Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Riteish Deshmukh and Vivek Oberoi will also be
performing at the award function.
The IIFA’s seem to be attracting lots of publicity in terms of on and
off screen antics this year but we are sure the end result will be a
spectacular homage to Bollywood and Indian cinema today. And with
Shahrukh and Salman at the event, their performances will be something
to look out for.
- www.newsline.com
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