Exclusive With IIFA Co-Founder Andre Timmins: "IIFA Is Like A Wedding--Everyone's Welcome Here!"

One of cinema's biggest nights, the 24rd International Indian Film Academy Awards, or the IIFA, is just a couple days away, and all of UAE is decking up to accommodate the starry splendor that the Yas Island in Abu Dhabi will witness on the 27th, 28th, and the 29th of September. IIFA is an award ceremony that rivals none other.

Successfully moving to their 24th year, the event has been hosted and elevated to smashing successes in multiple cities across the globe, but this time, we are lucky enough to catch just a glimpse of the showbiz glitz and the glamor and everything that it carries in our very own Abu Dhabi.

Amidst what is, without a doubt, some of the most exciting days of his long career, we got a chance to sit down for a chat with Andre Timmins, Co-Founder and Director of IIFA. Here's what he had to say.

Abu Dhabi is currently getting ready to host what is one of the biggest nights for cinema-lovers across the world. What are your expectations? What is on going through your mind right now?

First of all, we are excited to come back to Abu Dhabi–it's a hat trick. It's never happened before that we've been in a territory for three days. And that shows the level of Abu Dhabi's leadership, infrastructure, and commitment to constantly do more in order to help us do better and to penetrate the Indian diaspora in the region. UAE loves to see their stars. So, I'm more than excited to be back, being in Abu Dhabi for IIFA feels like coming back home.

What should the fans expect? Well, let's just say, we've got a lot of surprises. We've got a lot of things that are going to be very different this year. I'll just leave it at that.

Something that a lot of fans are excited about IIFA this time is the IIFA Utsavam, a congregation of some of the biggest South-Indian stars. UAE has a large density of South-Indian movie lovers. What has that organizing that been like?

Well, (laughs) I have to say one thing: First of all, you've got to be accepted into the South, right? Because I predominantly stay in Bombay. I have been with the Bollywood stars for like 30 years, 35 years. We kind of, you know, live and breathe Bollywood. But I've been lucky enough to forge strong bonds with stars from the South–especially from those belonging to the Telugu and Tamil film industries.

For the Bollywood guys, we were able to profile them globally, in a way that helped them attain co-productions, increase ticket sales, etc. So, it's always been our dream to kind of take on the South-Indian film industry and put that together for them, in a similar manner. This is just a coincidence that we bought all this together in the last 45 days. I think the universe, you know, kind of wanted it to happen. The Utsavam is going to be super exciting because it features huge stars right from Ramcharan to Chiranjeevi to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Mani Ratnam, Vikram, Balakrishna, etc.

Another massive event to look forward to is (actress) Rekha's performance. She's performing for 22 minutes and has been rehearsing thoroughly.

You've been credited with fleshing out the seed of the IIFA idea to the global phenomenon that it is now. In short, what has your journey with IIFA been like?

We started IIFA in the year 2000 when it was just a dream. We took it to London and back then, people had doubts. Because putting together and organising 500 people for two nights–-IIFA is a little bit like a wedding that way. (laughs) You know, it's like a Baarat, right? Everybody's welcome. IIFA's always been about fun, celebration, and networking. From London, we went to Sun City, Singapore, Malaysia, Amsterdam, Genting…I think it's been a journey that evolved, where we learned what to do, what not to do. It's also been a journey that the industry supported us in, because such an event can only be put together with the thorough trust from the industry.

While we're extremely happy, it's not easy. For example, currently with the five industries, we are travelling with 1,100 people and that's a lot of logistics to do. We've got about 450 cars and over 3,000 people working tirelessly on the show from all angles. And it's been a success so far. We put out 36,000 tickets for sale and all 36,000 seats have been bought. You can't ask for anything better, right? And of course, having King Khan on the show, Shah Rukh, it's a blessing. I thank him a lot.

IIFA is also extremely socially conscious. We are launching our IIFA initiative 'I Can Make a Difference' that is primarily to do with women empowerment in different fields; health, education, etc. We've tied up with the Shobha Foundation where we're going to educate over a thousand kids and Kriti Sanon is the first actress who's going to lead on and announce it.

What role does IIFA play in elevating Indian talent to the global stage of cinema and entertainment?

I think Indian cinema has already made great inroads to the global sphere. We have Priyanka Chopra, who's one of our biggest advocates, Deepika (Padukone) with Louis Vuitton, Alia (Bhatt) with Gucci. IIFA has played a role, for the last 24 years, to increase the perception and image of our cinema in a respectful way; in ticket sales, co-productions, film shootings, incentives, etc. Because we're constantly going to newer destinations, we're opening up the global market for both: Abu Dhabi's market in India and the Indian film market for the Middle East.

You seem to be very taken by Abu Dhabi, considering the fact that the last three IIFAs were held in this city. How much does Abu Dhabi's culture and infrastructure contribute to the success of an event like that of IIFA?

First off, Abu Dhabi has splendid luxury hotels that are all just five or so minutes from the event venue. They're all extremely focused in delivering with regard to the stars that come in. Just today, actress Rekha landed along with Shahid (Kapoor) and Vicky (Kaushal). Availability of direct flights and hotels that go out of their way to make our guests comfortable are the prime reasons for our choice of the city.

I'm very excited for the festivities to begin. Next year, we are bringing in our 25 years celebrations, too, so that's something to look forward to.