IIFA Utsavam to Be Held from January 24-25

Hyderabad, Jan 18 (IANS) The first edition of IIFA Utsavam, which was postponed due to the Chennai deluge last year, will now be held here on January 24-25. The proceeds from the ticket sales and donations from the event will be used for providing relief to the deluge victims.

The event, which was initiated to celebrate south Indian cinema, has launched a campaign ‘Be one for Chennai’ to garner support and funds for the Chennai flood victims, read a statement from the organisers.

The IIFA Utsavam awards presentation ceremony will take place at the Gachibowli Outdoor Stadium here, and the route for donations via www.iifautsavam.com/be1forchennai was opened on January 14.

The gala aims to bring together four southern film industries -- Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam -- and promises a stellar line up of performers.

Stars like Shivrajkumar, Chiranjeevi, Tamannah Bhatia, Shriya Saran, Priyamani, Akhil Akkineni and Adah Sharma will groove at the event while celebrities like Kamal Haasan, Mahesh Babu, Namrata Shirodkar and Naga Chaitanya will mark their attendance.

Andre Timmins, director, IIFA Utsavam, said: “We are confident south India will have never have witnessed a greater celebration than what we have planned with IIFA Utsavam."

Kamal also lauded the effort by the management at IIFA, which stands for International Indian Film Academy that hosts a Bollywood IIFA extravaganza at a foreign destination every year.

He said: “IIFA Utsavam has emerged as a true supporter of south India by not only celebrating the cinema but also being considerate about the well-being of its audiences. I appreciate the solidarity the International Indian Film Academy has shown towards Chennai and I am confident the celebrations in January are scheduled to be an even bigger success."