IIFA boycott, this too shall pass: Boman Irani

Jun 10, 2010 IANS

New Delhi, June 10 (IANS) Several Bollywood stars might have missed the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) event in Sri Lanka last week following a boycott call from south Indian film industry, but veteran actor Boman Irani hopes the hurdle would soon get over.

"I can't comment on why people didn't come (to IIFA this year) because of what happened but those who otherwise come, turned up... everybody did," Boman told IANS here Wednesday evening.

Boman has been hosting IIFA since the last three years with actor Riteish Deshmukh.

He was here alongside singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan for the Teacher's Origin Highnights. While Shankar crooned his renditions like "Maa" from "Taare Zameen Par", the title tracks of "Kal Ho Na Ho" and "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom", Boman strummed the guitar and belted out charts like "Give me some sunshine" from "3 Idiots" and Neil Diamond's "My Way".

A statement issued by the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce had said that southern stars and filmmakers would boycott all Bollywood stars who attend the IIFA in Colombo from June 3-5.

They have been campaigning against the island government and the alleged killing of civilian Tamils during the conflict between Sri Lankan army and the rebel Tamil Tigers.

Attending IIFA, however, had its repercussions for Bollywood hearthrob Hrithik Roshan, who led a Bollywood cricket team there, as well as, performed at the ceremony.

Hrithik's latest film "Kites" was taken out of four theatres in Chennai after protests against the actor's participation in the three-day event.

Boman, however, said: "We always have something every week to grouse upon... hopefully this too shall pass."