The International Indian film academy awards (IIFA) have been taking place annually in different cities around the world for the past 15 years. Originally starting in London, they have since travelled to destinations including Sun City, Macau, Singapore and … Sheffield. This year Tampa Bay, Florida, gets the honour. It's the first year the IIFAs have ventured to the US, and already the interest is high. More than 18,000 tickets have been sold to the shows and award ceremonies that are open to the paying public.
Although it's called IIFA Weekender, the festival runs from Wednesday to Saturday (at this point I'll say that if you're a stickler for detail, Bollywood might not be your cup of chai). Events will unfold before an anticipated 30,000 visitors, and those who attend will be just the tip of iceberg: an estimated 800 million people around the world are expected to tune in on TV.
The festival attracts all the stars of the Indian film world, along with their legions of fans, and hotels in Tampa are filling up fast. Too fast. My "hotel", I discover after I book, doubles as a college dormitory and is 20 minutes from the action. Reviews on Trip Advisor are making me anxious. "Sorely disappointed" about a "nasty room" is not something I want to be feel.
I had planned to stay downtown at the Hilton, where much of the IIFA action – from press conferences to media briefings – will take place. There will even be a Hollywood-meets-Bollywood acting class – Kevin Spacey and Vidya Balan in front of eager students.
To get a sense of the four-day festival, imagine mixing the glamour of the Academy Awards with stage-show spectaculars of London's most impressive West End musicals, while bolting on a business expo and a "media and entertainment summit". And let's not forget the after parties…
The two major events are on Friday and Saturday. Friday is the IIFA Magic of the Movies show. I'm envisioning a kaleidoscope of costumed dancers gyrating on stage behind Bollywood stars lip-synching their catchiest tracks. According to the organisers, as in any classic Bollywood film, "music takes centre stage". Vir Das and Saif Ali Khan – the Indian equivalent of James Corden and Prince William (if Prince William gave acting a go), will host. (As far as Saif Ali Khan is concerned, the term Bollywood royalty is bang on the money: he is the 10th Nawab of Pataudi and the descendant of the rulers of the now-abolished princely state.) They'll announce the technical awards on that same evening – highlighting the best in everything from dance steps (best choreography) to lipstick (best makeup). All this taking place in an actual amphitheatre!
But that's just the warm-up. On Saturday the awards for best male actor, best female actor, best picture and the rest of the usual award-ceremony gongs will be handed out. What makes the IIFAs different to the Academy Awards is that normal members of the public can simply buy a ticket to attend. I say normal, but $562.25 (£335.85) – the cheapest seat in the house – may be a little beyond the reach of many people. If money is no object, or you're simply feeling decadent, then $3,294.75 (£1,968) can put you just 17 rows from the stage. It can also get you into the night before's ceremony and, intriguingly, the invite-only IIFA Rocks stage show on Thursday. It seems that where Bollywood is concerned, money talks.
On Saturday night, the closing show's hosts are actors Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar. They will be delivering witty one-liners as winners glide effortlessly on stage and hold their accolades aloft. Meanwhile, the losers will try to keep smiling and politely clap while the cameras zoom in to detect the slightest flicker of envy or disgust. Some awards ceremony rituals are universal after all.
• IIFA 2014 will take place in Tampa Bay, Florida from 23-26 April
