The festivities leading up to Saturday night's International Indian Film Academy Awards kicked into full gear on Thursday, and you'd have to be the most jaded of observers not to pick up on the electric energy generated at Downtown Tampa's Hilton Hotel, where hundreds of (mostly) Indian journalists swarmed around the star power of Anil Kapoor and Priyanka Chapra, the two biggest personalities of this week's events.
But to get to the escalator to reach the second level of the downtown hotel required squirming through a gauntlet of crazed Bollywood fans who converged in the lobby, hoping to take photos of some of the various Indian actors in attendance.
Though Tampa is obviously not New York or Los Angeles, those outposts of cool that aren't hosting the IIFA's this weekend — the Cigar City is. And with most of the participants traveling halfway around the globe to be here for this weekend's ceremonies, there is an undeniable party spirit in the air that local officials like Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham seem generally awed by.
The 57-year-old Anil Kapoor (and this week's CL cover boy) is by far the most familiar Indian actor in Tampa this week and probably all of America, specifically for his star turn in the 2008 Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire. At today's press conference, he acted every inch the big shot, refusing to remove his sunglasses while he languidly delivered a bromide about his love for the Tampa Bay area.
"Look at my heart, and look at all our hearts and you can see that we love Tampa Bay and we will make this weekend an unforgettable, historical weekend that you will cherish all of your life!" he exclaimed before quickly sitting down.
Later on came Priyanka Chapra, 31, one of the most famous people in all of India. Named Miss World in 2000, she has had a hugely successful career as an actress and recording artist, and is using her celebrity to help out various causes. In 2010 she was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Child Rights. She praised Tampa, a city she admitted she knew nothing about until a few months ago.
"This is going to be a blockbuster weekend, just like our movies. We have incredible stars, incredible people from the movie business, who have come here to show you what a celebration our culture is, what a celebration our cinema is. How our cinema transcends borders across the world and takes to people what India is. So this weekend is not just for us, but for the entire world to understand the celebration that we as Indians are. So feel the power of it because this is going to be a magical experience, I can promise you. As like Commissioner Al [Higginboth] says, 'Namaste y'all.'"
Commissioner Higginbotham has been aptly feted this week as the public official most responsible for getting the awards to come to the Tampa Bay area. Now running for a county-wide seat on the board of County Commissioners as his two terms representing Eastern Hillsborough come to a conclusion this fall, Higginbotham said the origins of bringing the Bollywood Oscars to the region stemmed from his goal of increasing Tampa Bay's international presence, and what better way to do that through cinema?
"The first way man communicated was through song and dance, before the spoken word, when we go back to our roots .We're bringing two great countries together through the cinema, through art, through entertainment," he declared, before adding that he hopes the relationship between this community and the Indian entertainment industry can continue. "We want you in Tampa, we want you to stay because the hearts of Tampa are big and welcoming."
The influx of so many people from another part of the world appeared to have humbled Mayor Bob Buckhorn. Though he pumped up his town as always does (telling the visitors that "you are in an amazing city"), he said that after months of uncertainty, the Tampa community now knows what the IIFA weekend is all about. "And they're in love. They're in love with Indian films. They're in love with the Indian culture."
The mayor also spoke optimistically about how this weekend could evolve into a "multi-decade relationship," both on a business and interpersonal level. "We are proud to host you, we are honored to host you, we are grateful for the opportunity. IIFA’s going to rock the world, and Tampa’s going to rock IIFA."
Later Buckhorn and Kapoor were called back on stage with some Indian dancers to do what has been dubbed the official song and dance of the festival, "Do Da Tampa." After moving his hands for a bit, a chagrined Buckhorn joked that his political life was over, though "maybe I can run for office in Mumbai."
Trying to follow that event would have been tough for anybody, and Rick Scott isn't exactly the first politico you think about to deliver a good line. Scott observed, "That's unbelievable dancing," before a segue into championing Florida as a tourist state and Tampa as "one of the greatest cities in the world."
And for those in town for this international festival, which will have hundreds of millions of eyeballs on it this Saturday night from Raymond James Stadium (though none for the local cable audience), it may be just that after all.
This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2014.