IIFA fervour kicks off

The downpour in Toronto, did not dampen the spirits of Bollywood fans who gathered in large numbers to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars

IIFA fervour kicks off

The downpour in Toronto, did not dampen the spirits of Bollywood fans who gathered in large numbers to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars

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B-Town folk love their overseas fans. Any star, big or small, evokes as much applause and cheer notwithstanding their box office position. The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) weekend got underway in Toronto, Canada.

Starry, starry night:u00a0Subhash Ghai, Boman Irani, Anil Kapoor, Sonu
Nigam, Anupam Kher and Bipasha Basu strike a pose at the IIFA ceremony.

With a series of events and film screenings lined up for four days, the fans savoured the sights despite the constant downpour, as for them it's raining stars. The first event at the Fairmont Royal York witnessed the stars such as Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Diya Mirza, Riteish Deshmukh, Boman Irani, Subhash Ghai, Satish Kaushik, Anupam Kher and Sonu Nigam.

Zayed Khan waves to his fans on the green carpet. Pics/Yogen Shah

For Mallika, who declared it was her first outing at IIFA preferred to remain aloof.u00a0 Even when master of ceremonies Boman Irani was inviting each star to the dais, Madam M refused to step on to the podium for a while and finally when she did, she stuck to Kaushik at one extreme with Bips and Diya on the other.

Madam M who is used to her solo red carpet appearances preferred to stay clear from female colleagues.
Later, Zayed Khan and Diya launched the first look of their production Love Break Ups Zindagi, directed by Diya's flame, debutant Sahil Sangha. Everyone around was raving about how they were the best-looking production team in B-Town.

The green carpet premiere of Double Dhamaal at Brampton had thousands of local folk line up to greet the stars. On the carpet the film's cast Kangna Ranaut, Mallika, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jafri, Riteish Deshmukh, Ashish Chaudhry were cheered by the onlookers with zest and excitement. For Bollywood fans the revelry has just begin to get a glimpse of the stars.