After the IIFA press conference, we relaxed for a bit in the lobby, and my friend talked to one of the media crew to see if they can set up a backstage interview with any of the actors. Luckily, the media crew set up a backstage interview with Vivek Oberoi at Tampa Convention Center where he was rehearsing for the IIFA Rocks show. He was going to be the host for IIFA Rocks along with Gauhar Khan. We headed for the Tampa Convention Center and after waiting for about an hour, we were allowed to go backstage and there he was, coming down the stage, looking very handsome!! It was amazing to see him up close!! I was completely taken back with his down-to-earth nature and simplicity! He was talking to everyone patiently and didn't mind repeating the stories for all the interviewers about his flight from India to US, how his son was having fun on the flight and was a complete rock star for not giving him or his wife hard time on the flight, etc. etc. He was veeeery nice!!
While other people were interviewing Vivek, I was able to spot Vishal Malhotra who was on stage waiting to get backstage interview with Vivek for official IIFA awards. I went up to him and told him how I have seen him since he was in the show called Hip Hip Hurray! Since that show he has been in so many movies such as Ishq Vishq, Kismat Konnection, Ek Vivaah...aisa bhi, etc. He is also working on movies like Happy New Year and Don 3 with Shah Rukh Khan and it's amazing how far he has come!! I got a picture with him and then went back to the place where Vivek was being interviewed.
After the interviewers had chance to interview Vivek , I squeezed in for a bit to get a picture with him and wished him best for the upcoming IIFA awards. He was nominated for the Best Villain award and I told him "I really hope you win the best villain award!!", unfortunately he didn't win :(.
Once the interviews were done, we were debating whether to just stay there or go back to the hotel, change, and come back for the show. I was leaning towards going back to the hotel and changing and my friends agreed with me, so we headed for the Hilton first to pick up the car. While we were waiting for our car to come, we found Boman Irani standing just 2 feet away from us. He had just arrived from the airport, so he was getting his bags out of the car, but it was just funny that we didn't recognize him at first :P. When we did recognize him, I said hi, how his flight was, and asked him if we could get a picture with him and he was very friendly about it! Our car came and we headed for our hotel to change. It was all rush since we were already late for the IIFA Rocks show...but managed to get there in time and might have just missed maybe 5-10 minutes or so.
 |
| Gauhar Khan & Vivek Oberoi (IIFA Rocks) |
First of all, the IIFA Rocks was hosted by Vivek Oberoi and Gauhar Khan. Gauhar was looking stunning and Vivek was looking handsome!! They both did a great job of hosting the show. The show had music and dance performances by Ankit Tiwari (Aashiqui 2 - Sun raha hai na tu singer & composer), Bhoomi Trivedi (Ram chahe leela singer), and Monali Thakur (singer & actress). It was fun and entertaining!
 |
| Nina Davulur, Miss America 2014 |
The show also had 3 packed fashion shows by the 3 top designers of Bollywood. First fashion show showcased the collection of designer Manish Malhotra who had show stoppers like Sonakshi Sinha, Siddharth Malhotra, and Anil Kapoor. The 2nd fashion show showcased the designs of Amita Bal who had Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014, as her showstopper. Nina Davuluri looked gorgeous as she walked down the ramp!
The last, but not the least, was Vikram Phadnis who showcased his collection with help of 2 gorgeous showstoppers, Yami Gautam and Malaika Aurora Khan. His collection was beautiful. Not that I didn't like Manish Malhotra's collection, but I felt Vikram Phadnis had very colorful collection with Red, Pink, and Orange colour combination clothes!!
 |
| Vikram Phadnis Fashion Show |
 |
| Malaika Aurora Khan |
 |
| Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan |
After his performance, it was a wrap and everyone started leaving. There were not that many people and there wasn't really any security towards the entrance of back stage, so my friend decided to check it out and see if she can catch someone for a quick interview. There weren't that many people left backstage either but, lucky for us, we were able to meet Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and get a picture with him as well as an autograph. He was very nice person, very humble, and talked to us with a smile on his face. It was an honour to meet him. I also got an autograph from Ankit Tiwari who was backstage as well.
Phew...that was IIFA Rocks show! Amazing, surprising, beautiful, and entertaining!! The show had an after party which started right around 12:30 am or so and unfortunately for us, my friend had the passes for us but he wasn't reachable after the show :(. We tried hard to go pass the security but the security guard was adamant and didn't let us in (well, he was doing his job). After sitting around for a while, hoping that someone would pity on us and let us in, someone walked up to us and handed us 3 after party passes!! How convenient!! We went in, and due to starvation, we grabbed whatever we could and fed ourselves!!
We danced for some time and then headed back to the Hilton hotel to pick up our car. I ran into my friend, K, and we hung out in the lobby of the Hilton until it was 3:30 am. By the time we got to the hotel it was 3:45/50 am....we changed and by the time I went to bed, it was already 5 am :-o!! Time really flies and I set my alarm, again, for 7:45 am and went to bed.
Well, that was one looooong day but a lot of fun!! It's not over yet...more to come for IIFA in next 2 days!! Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment