How did the bid begin?
As part of my role at the YTB I look after cultural events and tourism. I've been involved in the Bradford mela and other festivals before so I've always got my eye on new ideas. When I attended the IIFA Awards in Ams
terdam in June last year, it really captured my imagination. The glitz, the glamour and the East meets West approach, it was a fantastic experience and I believed Yorkshire would be an ideal place to hold such an event.
New York and Rome sounds like tough competition – how did you convince the organisers that Yorkshire was the way forward?
Just like Manchester did for the Commonwealth Games a few years ago, we had to put together a business plan and basically pitch ourselves, showing those at IIFA how much we had to offer. These awards aren't coming to Yorkshire because there is a big Asian population here, they are coming to unite people, build international relations and to show Bollywood what we have to offer. We put together a promotional video, fronted by Bollywood star Mahima Chowdhry.
For anybody who hasn't seen the awards, what can we expect?
Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, York and Hull will all be involved in an event which will run from a Thursday to a Sunday. The top Bollywood film of 2007 will be premiered, there will be a high-profile international business networking event, film workshops with top directors and the colourful Awards ceremony itself, with all the biggest names from Bollywood in our region. There is also going to be a celebrity charity cricket match at Yorkshire's Headingley stadium that will be a massive event. The stars of Bollywood will be playing along with top names like Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Flintoff.
What effect will the Awards have on the Yorkshire region?
This is an amazing opportunity to build bridges between communities, whilst also showing the stars and directors of Bollywood how the scenery and buildings of Yorkshire can be a fantastic location for filming in the future. It should boost tourism but also let Bollywood, the biggest film industry in the world, producing 3.3 films on average a day, realise the potential of a strong relationship with Yorkshire. We have a lot to offer Bollywood.
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