IIFA Awards took Indian cinema forward to global stage: Shah Rukh Khan

Khan said he is excited to be part of the 25th edition of the IIFA Awards, which is to be held on March 8 and 9 in Jaipur

Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has credited International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards for taking Indian cinema to the global stage.

“It’s a marvellous achievement taking Indian cinema forward… It’s been good times with IIFA, and I pray for them (organisers) that they take Indian cinema global, put it on the platform, which makes us relevant all over the world,” Khan said.

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The Bollywood star, who has been associated with the IIFA awards for over two decades, said he has some “fond and wild” memories of attending the award show over the years.

“It’s been a great journey, it’s been too much fun. They (organisers – Andre Timmims, Viraf Sarkari and Sabbas Joseph) always have been hard working, I remember them arranging chairs at different award functions for us, been kind to us, and showing warmth.

From the beginning of the show to the end, they’ve been always looking after us,” he said, adding he has had a great time performing and hosting the IIFA Awards in the past.

Khan said he is excited to be part of the 25th edition of the IIFA Awards, which is to be held on March 8 and 9 in Jaipur. “I’ve always said to them, ‘We should have IIFA in our country’, and no better place than Jaipur to be hosting this. We will have our show, come and enjoy and celebrate Indian film industry with us over there,” he said.

“I was in the middle of going to start shoot of a film and when they told me that it’s going to be 25 years of IIFA and that I need to be there, so I rushed here. I’m looking forward to be in Jaipur and enjoying there,” Khan added.

Actor Kartik Aaryan, who is set to host the upcoming award show, said he is going to give his best. “I’m happy to be part of 25th anniversary of IIFA. I’m going to host and I hope I’m going to be the second best host because no one can beat him (Shah Rukh). Whenever Shah Rukh sir has hosted or performed, he has been at it. It’s always like a stadium like effect,” the “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3” actor said.