The big winner at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards, which took place on Saturday night in Toronto, was Dabangg. Among its haul of 10 prizes, the action film picked up Best Film as well as three out of the four big music awards. The other big winners on the night were My Name Is Khan and Baad Baaja Baarat.
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Dabangg is the directorial debut of Abhinav Kashyap and stars Salman Khan as a corrupt police officer who has family problems, girl problems and work problems. It's a traditional Bollywood masala film, packed with clichés, yet it does them expertly with a great lead performance from Khan and an excellent soundtrack. It's Bollywood kitsch at its best and works superbly as entertainment.
The film was a box-office sensation when it was released in September last year. It set opening day and first-weekend box-office records, overtaking last year's big award-winner, 3 Idiots. It is the second highest-grossing Indian film yet.
Going into the main awards show, Once Upon a Time in Mumbai led the way with 12 nominations, while Dabangg followed closely behind with 11. But it was Dabangg that converted nominations into wins. A sequel is scheduled for release next year.
It was the first time that the awards, which take place in a different city each year, have been held in North America and tickets to the main Toronto ceremony held at the Rogers Centre on Saturday night were exchanging hands for C$800 (Dh2,973) at the 22,000-seat venue. The show had sold out in 10 minutes.
Hollywood stars who joined the slew of Bollywood glitterati walking down the green carpet included Cuba Gooding Jr and Hilary Swank, wearing a red ball gown, who alongside Anil Kapoor presented the award for Best Performance in a Leading Male Role.
If there was one big shock on the night it was that Salman Khan did not win the Best Actor prize for his charismatic turn in Dabangg. The main acting prize went to the Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan for his performance in My Name Is Khan. Always the consummate professional, Khan, who himself presented some awards, played to the crowd by declaring, "I am a Torontonian" as he picked up his award. It was the first time in a number of years that the biggest name in Indian cinema had attended the ceremony and the star also did a song and dance number during the show despite a knee injury.
In My Name Is Khan Shah Rukh Khan plays a man suffering from Asperger's syndrome whose life in America is turned upside down by the hostile atmosphere following the events of September 11, 2001.
The Best Actress award went to Anushka Sharma, who appeared in another big winner of the night, Band Baaja Baaraat. In the love story Sharma plays a wedding planner looking for her own Mr Right. On Friday night, Sharma had hosted the IIFA Rocks concert with Karan Johar, who picked up the Best Director award for My Name Is Khan at the official ceremony.
The other acting awards saw Prachi Desai win Best Supporting Actress for her turn in Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, Arjun Rampal won Best Supporting Actor for Raajneeti, Ritesh Deshmukh won the Best Actor in a Comic Role for Housefull, Baad Baajar Baarat's Ranvir Singh won the award for a male debut, while debut female went to Dabaang's Sonakshi Sinha; in yet another award for Dabaang, Sonu Sood won for Best Performance in a Negative Role, a category that is unique to the IIFAs.
The awards were given out in two shows during the three-day celebration of Indian cinema in Canada. Most of the technical music awards were presented during the IIFA Rocks show and saw Dabaang and Baad Baaja Baarat share three prizes. IIFA Rocks, showcasing fashion and song, was memorable for a tribute by Jermaine Jackson to his late brother Michael, which saw the former member of the Jackson 5 sing Can You Feel It, Scream, and Wanna be Startin' Something. Joining Jackson was Sonu Nigam, who performed Thank You For the Legacy, a song dedicated to Michael Jackson.
The 12th annual IIFAs started 90 minutes late after the marathon green-carpet (the organisers eschewed the more traditional red) stroll by Bollywood stars. The final award for best film was handed out at 2am. Special lifetime achievement awards went to the actor Dharmendra and the singer Asha Bhosle. The actress Sharmilla Tagore was handed an Outstanding Achievement award in recognition of 40 years’ service to the industry. And, partly explaining why the awards ceremony took so long, in yet another gong Irfhan Khan was awarded a prize for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema.
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
PFA Team of the Year: David de Gea, Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Alonso, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Aguero
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%3Cp%3EThe%20Coffee%20Test%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EA%20machine%20is%20required%20to%20enter%20an%20average%20American%20home%20and%20figure%20out%20how%20to%20make%20coffee%3A%20find%20the%20coffee%20machine%2C%20find%20the%20coffee%2C%20add%20water%2C%20find%20a%20mug%20and%20brew%20the%20coffee%20by%20pushing%20the%20proper%20buttons.%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EProposed%20by%20Steve%20Wozniak%2C%20Apple%20co-founder%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE squad to face Ireland
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 2
Suarez (10'), Messi (52')
Real Madrid 2
Ronaldo (14'), Bale (72')
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
