Toronto to host Bollywood's global awards in 2011

Mumbai, Dec 11 (ANI): The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards will be held in Toronto from June 16-19, 2011.

Bollywood actors Vivek Oberoi and Celina Jaitely, in the presence of Ontario's Premier Dalton McGuinty, made the announcement here.

"To win this privilege to host the 2011 IIFA awards...you need to know that Bollywood is in Ontario, especially Toronto. I was telling our stars here that Toronto city is the city of five billion people; 52 percent or half of the people living here were born outside the country. And a big component of that comes from the Asian community, particularly from India. So this is going to be exciting," said McGuinty.

A joint release by IIFA and the Ontario government said that the awards should attract about 40,000 visitors to the city and another 350 million viewers to television screens the world over.

South Asians make up the largest visible minority in Toronto, with about 300,000, 12 per cent of the entire city's population.

Celina Jaitley told reporters that Canada is a big base for Bollywood as there is huge fan following there.

"Well, Canada is big base for tour film industry. And I am sure we are very excited to go there. And this IIFA will be really big because a large number of our fans are from Canada. So we are really looking forward to this," said Jaitley.

IIFA ceremonies have been previously hosted by Dubai, Amsterdam, Johannesburg and Bangkok. (ANI)