India's 'Bollywood Oscars' gets Super Bowl treatment in Florida

A bevy of Bollywood stars and dignitaries from India and the United States have descended on Florida this week for the "Bollywood Oscars," an awards event making its first US stop with the aim of creating deeper ties between the two countries.

The 15th edition of IIFA which began on April 23 will culminate tonight with the awards ceremony.

(From L-R) Bollywood actors Sonu Sood, Hrithik Roshan and Vivek Oberoi appear on stage at the Mid Florida Credit Union Amphitheater during the IIFA Magic of the Movies show on the third day of the 15th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Tampa, Florida, April 25, 2014. (AFP)

In fact, tonight’s awards show has been compared to the Super Bowl in terms of its security needs, traffic management and planning.

But its expected worldwide viewership of 800 million far surpasses the championship American football game's 111.5 million viewers on average in 2014.

Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin, Yami Gautam, Bipasha Basu and Gauahar Khan appear at the green carpet during the IIFA awards of the 15th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Tampa, Florida, April, 2014. (AFP)

Bollywood who’s who including Deepika Padukone, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, among others, are at Tampa Bay.

The night will be hosted by Farhan Akhtar and Shahid Kapoor.

Farhan is a hot favourite as is Deepika Padukone who boast multiple nominations.

Bollywood Actress Priyanka Chopra (C) and Actress Sonakshi Sinha and Anil Kapoor (R) entertain the crowd ahead of the 15th International Indian Film Academy Awards in Tampa, Florida April 24, 2014. (REUTERS)

Hrithik Roshan  for  ‘Krrish 3’; Ranbir Kapoor for ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’; Ranveer Singh for ‘Goliyon Ki Rasleela-Ramleela’; Shahrukh Khan for ‘Chennai Express’ and Sushant Singh Rajput for ‘Kai Po Che’ are also contenders for the best actor award, while Nimrat Kaur for ‘Lunchbox’ and  Shraddha Kapoor for ‘Aashiqui 2’ will compete with Sonakshi and Deepika.

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