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29 March 2024

In Dubai: Salman Khan in hot air balloon, Priyanka atop camel…

Salman Khan, Priyanka and Parineeti Chopra, along with 150 of Bollywood’s glitterati will land on Dubai’s doorstep next month. (Getty Images)

Published
By Bindu Rai

It’s being touted as the most glamourous night Dubai has seen in recent times and organisers of the Arab Indo Bollywood Awards or Aiba are pulling out all stops to ensure the May 29 event turns up the ‘wow’ factor along with the celebrity glamour.

Emirates 24|7 can now confirm some of the top acts planned for the awards night, with organisers stating the highlight ‘undoubtedly’ will be Bollywood superstar Salman Khan arriving in a hot air balloon as the show’s grand finale.

Live animals will mark the arrival of Priyanka Chopra and Varun Dhawan for their respective stage acts at the Meydan Racecourse, while Benchmark Media Managing Director Habib Rahman stated, “several more surprises will be revealed on the night itself”.

He stated: “The show is going to be something Dubai has never seen before, with a lot of hard work and effort put in by Cineyug, the show conceptualisers, along with SLS Productions to ensure audiences witness something spectacular on the night.”

The headliner of the night is Khan himself, who is confirmed to perform at the event after much speculation following his on-going legal proceedings in the 2002 hit-and-run case in India.

Rahman stated: “Salman’s entry will be the most anticipated one on the night, so we had to plan something big. So after much brainstorming, we hit upon the idea of having him land in a hot air balloon before he takes to the stage for his act. It will be the grand finale of the night, one that I am personally looking forward to witness.”

Not to be left behind, an Arabian Nights theme will interweave itself in some of the other performances on the night.

“We will have live animals, camels and Arabian horses that will mark the arrival of Priyanka and Varun,” Rahman further revealed. “There are quite a few surprises that will be revealed on May 29 itself, with Parineeti Chopra and Jacqueline Fernandez also performing.”

Altogether, eight acts will unravel on stage, which are being designed by India’s National Award winning choreographer, Shiamak Davar; Rahman added an Arab singer will also be at Aiba on the night, without revealing further details.

Singers Meet Brothers and Kanika Kapoor are also expected to perform; rehearsals have already commenced in Mumbai, organisers added.

The show will be hosted by director-producer Karan Johar and actor-presenter Manish Paul.

Rahman added: “If we include all the celebrities, their entourages and the dancers arriving from India, altogether around 400 people will be descending on to Dubai for the two-day affair.”

Stars are expected to start arriving by May 27, with special press meets being organised to promote Priyanka’s film ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ and Varun’s ‘ABCD 2’, he added.

Co-organised by Al Bustan Events, over 15,000 fans are expected to attend the awards ceremony from across the GCC on the night.

Featuring over four hours of celeb-interaction, Aiba jury chairperson and noted filmmaker, Tigmanshu Dhulia spoke about the awards to Emirates 24|7 in a chat earlier, saying: “The idea was to create a collaboration between Arab and Indian audiences, which has historically shared a common love for cinema, but most importantly, it was also imperative that as filmmakers, we had an awards platform that did away with the politicking of trophies to allow the emergence of small-budget but good quality cinema.”

The eight-member jury includes actor-director-producer Arbaaz Khan, Goldie Behl, Sreedhar Raghavan, Javed Jaffery, Shyam Shroll and Bollywood trade analyst Komal Nahta, which has shortlisted films released between January-December 2014 across three categories and 25 awards.