Film awards make green statement

Bollywood stars walk down a green carpet, not a red one to highlight global warming, writes Vijay Dutt.

This year’s IIFA awards presentation ceremony was different. It made a statement, a green statement. The Bollywood celebrities walked down a green carpet rather than a red one to highlight global warming and environmental issues. Many of those selected to hand out the awards talked about climate change rather than the cinema.

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Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), Bollywood's version of the Oscars, was held at Sheffield in northern England. The glittering show, that began Saturday night and ended early Sunday morning, was interspersed with electrifying performances by Abhishek Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan, Govinda and Shilpa Shetty, and was watched by around 12,000 people.

The evening hit an emotional note during the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Dharmendra by Amitabh Bachchan.

"Very few people know that it was on Dharmendra's insistence that I got the role of Jai in Sholay. If it were not for him, I would never have been a part of this great film. My wife describes him as a Greek God, but for me, he has always been a very good human being," Bachchan said.

Apart from Shilpa who is of course the adopted celebrity of the English, Abhishek, Aishwarya Rai Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra were most sought after.

And guess who is the biggest gainer. It is the Yorkshire businesses and Tourist Board. Their estimated earnings from the five-day bash is £10 million.