The Roundhay Park event will be held on the weekend of June 9-10 – instead of its traditional August slot – and it will be re-named Bollywood in the Park.

The Mela Committee made the late change to take advantage of the International Indian Film Academy Awards coming to Yorkshire this year.

Autographs

And organisers hope some of the Bollywood stars descending in Leeds and the rest of the county in June will be persuaded to visit Roundhay Park to sign autographs.

On Saturday, June 9, there will be showings of popular Indian films on large screens throughout the afternoon and early evening.

When the awards ceremony gets under way, it will be shown via a live link from Sheffield.

Celebration

A Mela spokeswoman said: "We wanted to arrange an event which would coincide with the awards weekend and would be a celebration of that industry.

"We will create a Bollywood experience for seasoned fans and newcomers and provide a venue for tourists to the city."

Leeds Mela has regularly attracted 60,000 to 80,000 people on a single day and those figures may rise with a two-day event.

Fashion

The programme will include a sports arena and a fashion and wedding arena. There will be Asian entertainment, music and dance, displays, merchandise, food traders and a fun fair.

Magazine

The organisers are producing 3,000 copies of a glossy Bollywood in the Park magazine and will also print 50,000 event programmes.

When the names of top Bollywood stars attending the awards are confirmed, their pictures will appear on the magazine cover.

Tickets

Top price tickets for the Bollywood Oscars night sold out within days. Some 400 punters paid £300 a head for prime seats.

A celebrity charity cricket match is being staged at Headingley Carnegie Stadium on Friday, June 8, as part of the big Bollywood build-up.

ENDS