Tickets for Bollywood film awards in Vancouver on sale Friday; vote for winners online

LARISSA CAHUTE
VANCOUVER DESI

Bollywood stars Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma are all expected to attend the Times of India Film Awards April 4-6 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Photo illustration/Getty Images files

Tickets for the first-ever Times of India Film Awards in Vancouver are officially up for grabs Friday and organizers expect “strong” sales from eager Hindi film fans across the globe.

“There is tremendous excitement across B.C. and around the world,” India’s TOIFA project lead, Chandru Sambasivan, said in an email. “Our Facebook fanpage has been flooded with queries on ticket sales and videos of the press conferences on YouTube have been shared and downloaded widely across the globe.”

Tickets for the two premium events — the Bollywood song and dance musical on April 4 at Pacific Coliseum and the Times of India Film Awards gala on April 6 at B.C. Place — will be on sale Friday, Feb. 15, at 8 a.m.

“Given the global interest in this event, we’re anticipating ticket sales to be strong,” said Sambasivan.

Votes have already been pouring in from fans across the world in the 14 categories of acting, directing, music, choreography and scripting.

“It is open for not just Indians living in India but also for all fans of Hindi films from across the globe,” said Sambasivan. “(And) there seems to be no border when it comes to interest.

People are calling wanting more information on tickets and the actual events that are taking place.”

“We’ve had inquiries from as far away as Australia, England, Germany.”

But according to Sambasivan, a lot of interest has come from the Lower Mainland and B.C., Toronto, Seattle, India, Singapore and Malaysia.

With a number of votes already cast, TOIFA is inviting more fans to vote at www.toifa.com before polls close the first week of March.

“TOIFA allows the fans to be part of the process deciding the winners of awards, which is why it is called the popular category,” said Sambasivan. “By voting for their favourite stars and films, the fans get to have a say on who gets felicitated.”

Tickets for the April 4 event are available at ticketleader.ca and start at $65 for lower bowl and range from $250 to $500 for floor seats.

Tickets for the April 6 grand celebration are available at ticketmaster.ca and start at $100 for the lower bowl and range from $150 to $325 for floor seating.

Some of the Bollywood A-listers expected to perform in Vancouver this spring are Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma and Abhishek Bachchan.

lcahute@theprovince.com
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Tags: B.C., Bollywood, Times of India Film Awards, Vancouver