Even popular Indian singer Peter Andre (of Mysterious Girl fame) couldn’t believe that he was attending the Videocon International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) weekend. He grew up watching Hindi films.

“I would love to shake a leg with Amitabh (Bachchan). Bring him on!” After Big B had finished his inaugural speech and it was Andre’s turn to speak, the singer said: “You sir spoke brilliantly.”

Media representatives from Southeast Asia too were overpowered by the actor’s speech. They, in fact, took great interest in learning more about Indian films.

Earlier in the morning the question everyone asked was when would Amitabh Bachchan arrive? Did earlier media reports stating the possibility of Bachchan giving the event a miss owing to Amar Singh’s health condition, true?

Rumours and guesses filled the air, especially among those present in the casino of The Venetian Macau, before The Videocon IIFA Weekend started. Day one of the event unfolded without a hitch.

With Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan already at the venue, shutterbugs were in search of every opportunity to catch a glimpse of them.

The night before, some of the names that matter in Bollywood had already arrived. Lara Dutt, Govinda, Boman Irani...you name a star and they were there, well almost. It was Sabbas Joseph, director of Wizcraft International Entertainment Ltd, who set the ball rolling.

“IIFA was created for building bridges. A decade ago there was not much of terrorism; there was one economic set up - the USA and the rest of the world. A few years back the prime minister’s office of one country (he didn’t name the country) approached us saying that whenever there was bombing, the bomber was from an Asian country. Today that country speaks of two periods - before and after IIFA.” Everyone attending the Videocon IIFA Weekend spoke of better tourism links with India.

Speaking to The Statesman, actor Govinda said: “Though the Indian film industry is better known as Bollywood abroad, enough of regional films are finding takers abroad.”

Among the highlights of the Videocon IIFA Weekend are announcements pertaining to three major films to be released this year - Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail, David Dhawan’s Do Knot Disturb and Anil Kapoor Films Company’s Shortcut.