PRIYANKA SHARMA

IANS

THE Lion City has rolled out the green carpet for Indian cinestars. From bigwigs like Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Bipasha Basu as well as young guns like Sonakshi Sinha and Abhay Doel - Bollywood’s gliteratti is participating in the 13th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) weekend and awards that started on Thursday.

There’s lots more - the evergreen Rekha, effervescent couple Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, maverick filmmaker Ramesh Sippy and a whole gamut of filmmakers, writers, actors and singers will enthrall film fans at the three-day cine event.

As Bollywood heads towards s erving the youth, this edition of IIFA is focussed at providing a platform to new and fresh talent, says Sabbas Joseph, director of organisers Wizcraft International Entertainment.

“The freshness in this year’s edition, is across multiple perspectives.

It is a much younger approach, something that represents the youth of the country on global platform,” Joseph said.

True to its approach, the gala will see young and budding talent taking centrestage. Shahid and Farhan Akhtar are set to entertain the audience with their wit and humour as the hosts of the glitzy awards ceremony.

The pre-finale celebrations will include a race on Singapore’s F1 track co-inciding with the promotions of Ferrari Ki Sawaari.

Writers like Javed Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi, composer Shantanu Moitra and filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, will host music workshops, where they will discuss what goes behind creating music for a Bollywood film.

The other highlights include a world premiere of Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai. Also, excerpts of Neha Dhupia-Sonu Sood starrer Maximum and Kamal Hassan’s Vishwaroopam will also be showcased during the weekend.

IIFA Rocks, a fashion and musical night, featuring designers like Masaba Gupta, Suneet Varma and Varun Bahl, will be held a day before the main award function.

VJ-turned-actor Ayushmann Khurrana and actress Chitrangada Singh have been roped in to host IIFA Rocks, where new kids on the block — Nargis Fakhri, Zoa Morani, Aditi Rao Hydari and Shazahn Padamsee will take to the ramp as showstoppers.

The awards night on Saturday will witness starstudded performances by Shahid, Priyanka Chopra, Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha and Ranbir Kapoor. What’s more? The dances are choreographed by Indian Michael Jackson Prabhu Deva. Other Bollywood stars expected to attend the event include Vidya Balan, Preity Zinta, Malaika Arora Khan, Rani Mukerji, Parineeti Chopra, Dia Mirza, Emraan Hashmi and Anil Kapoor.