Despite the absence of many top Bollywood stars, the IIFA 2009(International Indian Film Academy) pulled off as a gala event amidst much glamour and glitter. It was a special event for the host Amitabh Bachchan as his wax statue from Madame Tassauds has been unveiled at this ceremony and was displayed there till June 13 after which it was sent back to London.

An overwhelmed Big B said, “I am very happy and I thank Madame Tussauds for considering me worthy of a wax statue. I hope many more from India fraternity join me in the museum.”

Daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai said, “The statue is nice but you can’t beat the original.”

The fashion extravaganza held at Venetian Hotel on June 12 was hosted by celebrity duo Zayed Khan and Sophie Choudhary, who appeared in Manav Gangwani creations. Many Bollywood stars walked the ramp showcasing creations by leading Indian designers Rocky S, Manav Gangwani, Anamika Khanna and Farah Ali Khan — along with a new collection by Hong Kong designer Chris Chang. Hrithik and wife Suzzane Roshan showcased the jewelary by Farah Ali Khan. Sonam Kapoor carried the stylish evening wear by Anamika Khanna with commendable poise. Bipasha Basu appeared in a creation by Rocky S, while Dia Mirza, Dino Morea and Madhavan modeled for Manav Gangwani, and Neil Nitin Mukesh and Mugdha Godse were show-stoppers for Siyaram. As an icing to the cake was the performance by international singing sensation Peter Andre.

The event also saw performance by the host family members Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan. Inspite of the absence of beau John Abraham, Bipasha Basu gave a dazzling performance. Nonetheless, IIFA, this year, missed many key players including SRK, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Ajay Devgan, and Rani Mukherji to list a few.

This time 10th Annual International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) 2009 seems to pass away without any big Bollywood stars and glitter. According to news, many a big stars have declined to participate in the event on some pretext. Firstly, it was the Shahrukh Khan, who declined from participating, and then Farah Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and Akshay Kumar expressed their inability to attend the show and declined invitations.

According a close relation to Akshay told, “A family vacation was planned well in advance to coincide with Akshay’s son Aarav’s school holidays. Akshay doesn’t like leaving Aarav behind when he is out of the country. At the same time he doesn’t want his son to miss school. So the annual holiday was planned well in advance. No power on earth, not even IIFA, is going to persuade Akshay to take even a small break from the holiday, let alone break his little boy’s heart.”

Shahid Kapoor has another reason to skip the event as he is over involved due to the releases scheduled ahead this year, he said, “I was looking forward to performing at IIFA and showcasing ‘Kaminey’, however my commitment to my producer has to be honored and I regret being unable to attend this year.”

Though IIFA organizers, anyway, do not need to worry about as BIG B is attending the ceremony and he is a great crowd puller in himself.

As on its tour of Macau to finalize venue for International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Amitabh Bachchan announced Macau to be the host of 2009 IIFA Videocon Weekend. The event is scheduled between, June 11th to June 13. Last Year’s event held at Bangkok, however, this year it is fixed at The Venetian (r) Macao- Resort Hotel.

In meantime during his schedule he had some good moments at gondola ride that made him nostalgic of his ride 30 years ago. He said, “After Venice, I have experienced a gondola after thirty years at the Venetian Macau. It was an enchanting experience. I sat on the gondola thirty years back to shoot the song ‘Do Lafzon Ki Hai’ for my film ‘The Great Gambler’.”  The song was great hit of its time.

So, the results of the most awaited event in the glamour world are out and we have the names of the hottest desi girls in town. The panel of judges Sushmita Sen, Asin, Deepika Padukone, Mickey Broadman, Anil Chopra, Ravi Krishnan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Nandita Mahtani and Ajay Devgan eventually decided the fate of the contestents and so Shriya Kishore was crowned as Miss India Earth,  Pooja Chopra as Miss India World and Ekta Chaudhury as Miss India Universe 2009.

The evening’s hosts Madhavan and Malaika Arora Khan sparked the evening with their superb chemistry and also a dazzling dance performance. Genelia D’ Souza was marvelous with her performance on old numbers. Equally ravishing was Kangana Ranaut as she did a jig on numbers like Mera Piya Ghar, Nimbuda and Barso Re while Priyanka Chopra (clearly the queen of stage) was worth the whole ride across town eventually dancing (with full enthu support of Shiamak Davar’s troupe) of course to Ma Ka Ladla and Desi Girl.

Former Miss World and reigning Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra received this year’s Nielsen Box Office Award at Hong Kong. The award, which was launched in the year 2007, was presented for the outstanding performance in the world of Asian cinema.

A panel of jurors composed of professionals whose experiences and expertise in cinema are internationally recognized select from among eligible films produced in the region in that year. AFA awards is presented to outstanding individuals or collective efforts in various categories. The AFA Presentation Ceremony takes place as part of the red carpet and star-studded Entertainment Expo Hong Kong Opening Gala. Eminent filmmakers and superstars from around the world are invited to bestow awards upon winners of each category, making the ceremony an elaborated extravaganza.

This time, the foruth series of popular TV show ‘Indian Idol’ was unique as the show finally got its first female winner in the form of Sourabhee Debbarma, who won title of ‘Indian Idol 4′ on Sunday ruling out her close contestants the Bengali girl Torsha Sarkar and army man Kapil Thapa. The 22 year old girl who surprisingly has had no professional training in music walked away with a Rs.10 million contract with Sony TV and a car. The result was based on public voting.

The celebrity guests of the finale included Bollywood stars John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh, who had come to promote their forthcoming film ‘New York’.

Others from the Indian film and music industry, including judges Javed Akhtar, Anu Malik, Kailash Kher and Sonali Bendre, too were present to cheer the finalists.

Gr8, the popular television glossy, felicitated 15 women from varied fields at the Gr8 Women Achievers awards. FLO, the Women Wing of FICCI salutes the women achievers of the country at this event which covers 25 different categories and the awardees, are leaders in their fields and come from all parts of the country. Women Achievers are selected in different categories: Advertising, Banking, Corporate Excellence, Education, Entrepreneurship, Media, Finance, IT, Political Leader, Social Activist, Author, Musician, Fine Artist, Journalist, Movie Actor, Sports etc.

The event saw the attendance of many celebrities including Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, Harman Baweja, Miss India Parvathy Omanakuttan, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Zeenat Aman, Ramesh Sippy, Yukta Mookhey, Yash Chopra, and Farah Khan. Hot babe of Bollywood Celina Jaitley gave rocking performance at the event.

No wonder this is the best moment of the life for all who toiled hard to bring the status and honor for the “SlumDog Millionaire” after winning one award after another and finally arriving at Grammy awards in Los Angeles and winning 8 Oscars. Watch the event and playful pictures of joyous crew of the “SlumDog Millionaire” at Oscars.

Ultimately, at Kodak theatre in Los Angles it turned out to be day for “SlumDog Millionaire” at 81st Oscar award ceremony, where the movie based on the plot of Mumbai, surrounded around a slum Boy’s tale of rising from rag to riches bagged eight Oscars out of 10 nominated categories.

“SlumDog Millionaire” won award as Anthony Dod Mantle for Best Cinematography, Simon Beaufoy for Best Writing & Screenplay, Resul Pookutty, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke for best sound, Chris Dickens for Best Editing, AR Rahman for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Movie also bagged award for Best Director given to Danny Boyle and The Best Picture award also retained by the movie.

Following is the list of 2009 Oscar Award winners.

Best Actress – Kate Winslet – The Reader
Best Director – Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Cinematography - Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Writing & Screenplay based on Material - Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Sound - Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Editing - Chris Dickens - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Score - AR Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Song - AR Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Makeup - Greg Cannom - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Art Direction - Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Visual Effects - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Best Sound Editing - Richard King - The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress -Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Costume Design - Michael O’Connor - The Duchess
Best Animated Film - Andrew Stanton - WALL.E
Best Writing & Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen - Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire

However, winning of Oscar by SlumDog Millionaire put forth the case of Bollywood Cinema in the International arena and is positive sign that in coming future there would be production of movies of International standard. Bollywood-stars.net congratulates   crew of SlumDog Millionaire on this great achievement. “Proud to be Indian”

Indian Business News Television Channel announced awards in various categories for automobile products on 20th February, 2009. The award function “NDTV Profit Car & Bike Awards” was held at ITC Grand Maratha in Mumbai. While Bollywood beauty Priyanka Chopra won the award in best female model category for her Hero Honda Commercial Ad, Chhote Nawab Saif Ali Khan won the award in best male model category for his Chevrolet Car Commercial Ad. The duo looked smart and adorable with Priyanka in black leather outfit and Saif with his rock star image.

The company on the occasion said, “Over the last 4 years, NDTV Profit Car and BikeAwards have emerged as the most coveted awards in the automobile industry - which stands for credibility and a sense of fair play. There is complete transparency in what we endeavour to put out - since we have a responsibility to our viewers and readers to carefully assess, select and recognise the best automobiles of the year”.

In the period of cinema awards around the Globe, whether it is Golden globe or Oscar awards, Bollywood no way is behind in this frenzy and the latest event occurred on the line is Max Stardust Award that occurred on last Saturday dated 14th February 2009 in Mumbai.

Nearly, every big star was seen at this function performing, receiving award or sitting among guests. The best movie awards was given to the “Singh is Kinng” to Akshay Kumar. And his wife twinkle was also present at the event. Amitabh received best actor award and Priyanka Chopra bagged the trophy for Female Star of the Year. There were all, the list is countless including Kangana Ranaut with beau Adhyayan Suman, Kareena Kapoor and boyfriend Saif Ali Khan, Ameesha Patel, Fardeen Khan, Salman Khan, Neha Dhupia, Celina Jaitley, Amrita Rao and more.

The new kid to stardom, the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ star, Freida Pinto is receiving acclaims for her style and dresses. Just recently, Fashion bible Vogue declared the lady to be number 1 on this week’s list of ‘10 Best Dressed’ beating stars such as Renée Zellweger and Rosamund Pike. The dusky beauty had also been lauded for her outfit at the 20th Annual Producers Guild Awards where she turned up in a peach Donna Karan gown, Bally heels, and Lorraine Schwartz jewels. Now, the Elle magazine has named her one of the top best dressed women.

Freida was nominated in the Best Actress category at the BAFTAs earlier this month, she however did not win the award. Now, she is all in news after 10 Oscar nominations for her film. With celebrated designers such as Christian Lacroix, Moschino and Marchesa lining up to dress sexy Ms Pinto, all the fashion biggies are waiting with baited breath to see in what does she turn up in the Oscars?