AMSTERDAM, June 11: All the Bollywood glitterati descended on Amsterdam as the annual awards ceremony of the Indian cinema industry began on Saturday. Since 2000, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) has staged the extravaganza abroad to raise the international profile of its home-grown “made in Bombay” movie industry.

For this sixth international edition of India’s ‘oscars’, starlets in spangled saris and the sound of bhangra music brought an unaccustomed exotic flavour to the canal-lined streets of this Dutch city. Even more disorientating for some of the locals, the stars staged a cricket match on Friday.

“Imagine, it is like all of Hollywood landing up in Amsterdam for a weekend,” joked actor Amitabh Bachchan, 62, a Bollywood icon with a career of more than 40 years behind him.

Bachchan was even treated to an official reception with Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende as the Netherlands anticipates a windfall of 20 million euros for hosting the event.

Hundreds of fans, mostly hailing from the former Dutch colony of Suriname, where many Indians emigrated at the end of the 19th century, mobbed the airport to watch the stars arrive. Around 200,000 Hindus live in the Netherlands.—AFP