Voting has begun for the 12th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards here today. Casting the first votes were director Karan Johar and actress Kareena Kapoor, who were followed by Anil Kapoor and hosts for the upcoming awards Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh. Also casting their votes on day one were Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood, Ramesh Sippy, Manmohan Shetty, J P Dutta, Yash Chopra and members of the film fraternity and public.

Voting will take place over the weekend from today till march 6. The 12th IIFA Weekend and Awards are slated to be held at Toronto, Canada, from June 23-25. The event will also showcase the works of Raj Kapoor.

”I believe the IIFA is getting better every year. This year’s IIFA will bring us to the north American market, a huge market for cinema. The awards have also strengthened the Indian film industry and made us like a family fraternity again,” Johar told mediapersons here this morning.

The IIFA Awards and Bollywood films in general too are gaining in popularity among audiences beyond the subcontinent. Tickets for the Toronto IIFA were reportedly sold out in 30 minutes.

”There is a demand and craze for IIFA that we have never experienced. A lot of hard work has gone into making it a success, including creating the sets to planning the logistics to carry 600-700 people in foreign shores, and there is always a payback- we can expect it to be the best ever,” Anil Kapoor said.

The votes for the awards will be tallied by top consultancy firm- PriceWaterHouse Coopers (PWC), with popular categories open for global audiences to cast their votes.

”The IIFA Award is one that has not been rigged. It’s not a case of only the ‘winners’ attending the event. I have given the IIFAs’, a miss in the past, and I still won ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ awards. It’s an important event to network with global players and Indian films are getting a lot of acceptance,” Kapoor said.



Keywords: Best Actor,Best Supporting Actor,Anil Kapoor,Toronto IIFA ,IIFA Awards ,Bollywood films,PriceWaterHouse Coopers (PWC),Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood, Ramesh Sippy, Manmohan Shetty, J P Dutta, Yash Chopra ,director Karan Johar , actress Kareena Kapoor,12th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards,Boman Irani ,Riteish Deshmukh.