The South Indian Film Industry will boycott IIFA awards.
After much persuasion from the Tamil groups both in India and Sri Lanka, the powerful South Indian film Industry has decided to boycott the IIFA awards to be held in Sri Lanka in the first week of June.
To begin with, the Tamil groups had requested that despite the popularity the Bollywood movies have in Sri Lanka, the Hindi film industry should stand-by the suffering people in that country and not hold the mega event in Colombo. Though the organizers of IIFA did not find the argument by the Tamil groups in Sri Lanka worth considering, it seems that the South Indian film industries have come out in support of Tamils in that country and decided not be a part of the event.
A statement issued by different bodies of South Indian film industries including South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce said that though they were not oppose to any award ceremony but they are not happy about the organizers decision to hold the event in a country where hundred and thousands of innocent men and women are being killed because of no fault of theirs.
But now since the event is eventually going to be organized in Sri Lanka and the South Indian film industry cannot stop it, they have urged their colleagues in Bollywood not to attend it. In a statement issued in this regard, the South Indian film industry said, ‘We request the brothers in the North Indian film industry to avoid attending the IIFA awards and boycott the same. A similar view is endorsed by all the artistes, producers, distributors and exhibitors of four southern states chambers of commerce."
So, while extending their support to Tamils in Sri Lanka, the South Indian film industry has not only themselves decided to boycott IIFA awards but has also asked stars in Bollywood to do the same. It now remains to be seen what stars in Bollywood do.
