Bollywood star Vidya Balan is on a multi-city tour of the US to drum up excitement for the IIFA awards which are making their debut in the country.
Balan, who will also host a masterclass on acting during the three-day award show, visited New York and will next head to Houston, Tampa and Orlando from 11 to 14 March.
The IIFA weekend 2015 will be held from 23rd to 26th of April in Tampa Bay.
“I am very pleased to be a part of IIFA’s landmark journey, as they venture into the US, in Tampa Bay. I am excited to be a part of the IIFA Master Class this year and look forward to engaging with my fans in the US,” Vidya said.
The awards, which travel to a new location each year, will see Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Pritam, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shruti Hassan joining Bhoomi Trivedi, Monali Thakur perform at the IIFA Magic of the Movies & Technical Awards.
The show will be hosted by Saif Ali Khan and Vir Das.
The other events include FICCI-IIFA Global Business Forum, an IIFA Masterclass with Vidya Balan and Kevin Spacey, among others and IIFA Stomp, a celebration by the Tampa Bay community to welcome IIFA on April 23.
Farhan Akhtar, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Shruti Hassan, Sonakshi Sinha, Anil Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Sri Devi-Boney Kapoor, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, Kamal Hassan, Shekhar Kapoor, Pritam, Anupam Kher, Vidya Balan, Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D’souza will attend the ceremony.
Sabbas Joseph, Director – Wizcraft International and IIFA said, “… We are thrilled to be debuting in the United States. We trust that the partnership we have struck with Tampa Bay will lead to great benefits to both countries in terms of entertainment, trade and tourism.”
Over 18,000 tickets across several categories have sold out for the awards, the organisers said.