.

Oh. My. God.

This, and only this, makes me want to see Delhi Belly.



Oh, Aamir, you are priceless.
God bless you.

How can you possibly top a night with Shah Rukh and Vivek? With another full day of Bolly goodness, that's how!

After the haze that was Friday night, Saturday morning came far too quickly, but there was so much to do that, even with a mild hangover, I got my butt out of bed and got ready to face the day. After some much needed lunch, we did a quick stop at the TIFF Lightbox to have a look at the Raj Kapoor exhibit. They were running clips from a few of his films, including Shree 420, and if you had the time you could pose to have a picture of your face superimposed on a still. Unfortunately for us, their camera wasn't working, which was really too bad because that would have been cool. Oh well.




From the Lightbox, we made our way to the Fairmont Royal York, which was the hub for all the celebs and I think official press central. I'm not sure how we managed to get in unnoticed, as there were people standing at the front doors requesting to see people's room cards. In any case, we were there, milling around among all the peeps, hoping to connect with a wizcraft person in order to secure an interview with a favorite actor. Unfortunately, that didn't work out for us, but we had a very exhilarating visit, even managing to somehow make our way up to the 19th floor executive suites. I don't mind telling you that my heart was racing the whole time! I felt like we were going to get busted any minute, and almost did end up getting kicked out when we were loitering a little too long on the main lobby floor by another very scary white security guard. There was a few celeb sightings, although my stupid bladder kept me from seeing Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora!!!

After we decided our celeb stalking wasn't going to get us to our final goal, we decided it was time to check out the events and goings on around the Rogers Center, so we made our way through the busy Toronto streets and eventually came to the Samsara stage, where we got to see Raghav perform. I wouldn't have known Raghav from Adam, but I do know this song, and it rocked!








As the afternoon wore on, we headed out for a bite to eat, where we witnessed some protest of something or another (I'm guessing, like most things, it was over some sort of political "damn the man" protest). After some deliciously bad for you pub food, and a pit stop to THE cutest dress shop ever, we hoofed it to our hotel room to get ready. In our hurry to get to the Rogers Center by a start time of 7pm, we forgot to take any pictures in our lovely formal wear. Silly us! Since when does an Indian event EVER start of time? The show was supposed to start at 7pm, I think it finally began at 9pm, and ran a staggering 5 1/2 hours, due in part to every single celebrity thanking Toronto and saying what a warm welcome they've received. Yes, we all feel the love, now let's move it along!

So, the list of winners has been circulating now since that night, so I just want to touch on a couple of things I loved about the awards themselves.

#1 - Boman and Ritesh were very good at hosting the function. There was A LOT of gay humor (dancing in drag, near kisses and lots of embracing!), and in between they were funny and eloquent and it was a delight to watch them interact. They did a hilarious sequence of short films, that made fun of everything from Munnabhai to My Name is Khan to DDLJ to Sholay. Ritesh did a really funny character with no arms that must be from some movie, but I didn't recognize it. If anyone knows who I'm talking about, let me know. I'd like to be in on that joke.


#2 - Ranveer Singh! What a performance, and, in my opinion, the very best of the night. Sure Bipasha's was sexy, The Deol clan did a fine job, and Priyanka's was, well, that's when I got up to stretch my legs, but none compared to the sheer exuberance that the newly crowned best male newcomer gave to his audience. I had thought that Anushka was going to join him on stage (and I'm not sure what the story is there), but it was so much fun! Kya energy, kya style, kya performance!






#3 - Arshad Warsi is ROBBED!!!! Everyone knows I am a huge fan of Arshad's and Ishqiya was in my top 5 favorite movies of last year, but when I look at his performance of Babban, I just can not believe that he didn't win this. Now, to be fair, I haven't seen Ranjeeti, a film that spouted several best actor nods, but I just can't see anyone comparing to the raw, yet perfect culmination of role and actor that we saw in Arshad and Babban. He said in an interview this past weekend that he does the movies like the Dhamaals, the Golmaals, the Munnabhais for the audience and he does the films like Ishqiya for himself. I'm so happy he has apparently signed on for 3 more serious films in the immediate future. Maybe we will get to see him finally take home some well deserved accolades!




#5 - Shah Rukh wins best actor for My Name is Khan! Okay, I get it. A lot of people did not like this movie. I, on the other hand, loved every single second of it. I firmly believe the reason it made such an impact on me is because I am a parent, but I also believe that Shah Rukh was amazing as Rizwan Khan. It was a character very far removed from the lover boy Raj and it took a tremendous amount of talen to play the part so effectively. I will always applaud actors that take risks with their careers, even if we only see them do it once in a while.

And, while we are talking about Shah Rukh, I just have to say, I appreciate the fact that, despite his fractured knee, he still came on at the end of the show and did a little dance tutorial for all of his fans. Oh sure, someone else could have stepped in and filled the bill, but I honestly and truly believe that he is someone who really doesn't want to let people down, so something is better than nothing. I had a good time watching him show us how to do the belt move from Dabangg, or the guitar move from Rock On, and the amusing "back stories" behind them. That is something you would NEVER see at an Academy Awards, and part of the charm behind this movie industry!




Final last notes...

While the show did run a tad long (!), I loved how people got their time to talk. I dare anyone to tell Dharmji that his turn is over!






What a terrific adventure it all was! I have heard rumours that IIFA may be held in Las Vegas next year, in which case I better start saving now, because there is NO WAY I am missing that one!



Until next time....

There's something strangely sad about coming home from a vacation that fulfills nearly all of your expectations. Now that I'm back, full throttle into the reality that is my life, I feel as if the last 4 days were little more than a dream. I wish I was still sleeping!

Friday was such a blur. My sister and I got into Toronto in the afternoon, and, after meeting Filmigirl (who is AWESOME by the way), and checking into our hotel, we headed to meet the lovely Beth Loves Bollywood and Irena at Aroma. The food was so divine I couldn't get enough. Mmmmm......




Even Mini Khan made a welcome appearance! What?! I was just curious!


With the Red Carpet Vivek Oberoi party (you know the one that was highjacked by Shah Rukh!), on it's way it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready. I never EVER wear a dress, but this was a special occasion, so I had to get all dressed up. Once we got to the Sheraton, I was so happy that we had line by pass tickets. That was until I realized that there was no such thing and we had to stand at the back of the line anyway. Oh well. At least it moved fast! So, go from this line to get your wrist bands, to this line to get downstairs, to this line for red carpet pictures and you are finally in! WOO HOO!




I have to tell you, for someone who loves desi/filmi music so much but only gets to appreciate it in the comfort of her home or blaring in the car, it was SO GREAT to be able to dance to my favorite songs in a club like setting. Of course, after getting a wine, we started up right away!


Apparently, like most Indian organized events, there was absolute chaos! No one with a vip wristband knew where to go for the actual meet & greet. Some people were saying, "Just head to the front", which we tried only to be scolded at very ominously by a large white security guard. SCARY! Finally they announced where to go, and, as we made our way over, we were bombarded with people just trying to get a closer look. However, those wristbands were awesome things, because it allowed us to actually go on stage with the very handsome Vivek Oberoi. I remember thinking I wondered how I would ever react if I got a chance to actually meet a celebrity. Would I be cool. Would I be a total fangirl. I'm not actually 15 years old anymore, after all. So, when I got a chance to meet Vivek, I think what I came up with was, "I'm so happy to meet you. I loved you in Prince." Smack head! What a wasted opportunity! Though, to be fair, they were ushering us over that stage so fast I felt completely rushed! Oh well, at least I got myself a pic of the event to commemorate my complete lack of eloquence.

After Vivek was done, we were graced by the one and only Shah Rukh Khan. You know, for the amount of people that seemed to be milling around outside the Sheraton, there didn't seem to be the thousands of peeps inside that we were expecting. That being said, I didn't get as close to him as I would have preferred, figuring at least 30 - 40 yards between the love of my life and myself. It was close enough though to get a few snaps and see him answer questions, say some dialogues, show off his signature filmi move. The crowd was crazy over him, and I'm embarrassed to say that after all was said and done I had to excuse myself to go compose and get it together!! Geez! At some point I'm sure I will outgrow this crazy fangirl inside me.... ah who am I kidding, I'll be the same when I'm 60!

Holy smokes! Has it been that long since I did a post? I completely missed my 2nd bloggiversary (bummer), but as spring moves forward, my love of all things Bolly related continues to grow! I've seen a bunch of films in the last couple of months, but I am so behind on my reviews that I'm going to do a loved it/hated it post soon. Coming up: Patiala House, Golmaal 3, Band Baaja Baaraat, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, Break Ke Baad...

I am SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED to be leaving to attend IIFA 2011 in 4 days!!! I have purchased a gorgeous (and "fresh" outfit according to my very persistent but fun salesman) so I can attend the awards in style! I couldn't believe when I read Shah Rukh would be performing the final number of the night. SCORE! My bank account has experienced a disastrously high shrinking rate, however my closet has become home to some wicked party wear!

And speaking of Shah Rukh, what else are you to do the big IIFA weekend but party, so when we got the chance to go to a Vivek Oberoi & friends event, why not! Scooped VIP tix up and was excited to see who "friends" were, little did I know that the night would be host to special guest Shah Rukh! WHAT!!!! As little as one week ago no one even knew if he was going to be gracing Canada with his presence, now he's going to be at everything I'm attending! My heart was experiencing serious palpitations last night on the arrival of this news.

So, parties, awards, movie poster art museums, movies all with my sister, Filmigirl and a host of other wonderful twitter/blogger friends I can not wait to meet, Friday can not come here fast enough!!!! I can't wait to post all the pics and tell you all how much fun I know we are going to have. Can it just be Friday already!