SRK dazzles at IIFA despite knee injury

Toronto: Despite a knee injury giving him trouble, Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan made sure the lack of top stars did not dim the dazzle at the IIFA night here, charming the audience with his presence and witty one-liners.

Shahrukh, who was seen walking with a slight limp ever since he landed here for the IIFA weekend, was greeted by hysterical fans wherever he went. Despite the awards ceremony starting nearly two hours late, audiences lapped up Shahrukh, described in the local media as a Brad Pitt calibre star, the minute he was on stage with hosts Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh. He joked with the duo, hosting the IIFA awards for the 4th time, told them they were bad hosts and gave them tips on how to do a better job. The more than 20,000 crowd did not even mind the silly jokes of Boman and Riteish, as long they could see Shahrukh in person for most of the time. Shahrukh was attending the IIFA after a gap of six years and also walked away with the best actor trophy. In fact, Shahrukh and Anushka Sharma, who won the best actress award, were the only two stars from the list of nominees in both categories who were present at the event. Shahrukh also danced to the tunes of his own film songs, as also on the Aamir Khan hit `Aati kya khandala` and a song from Salman Khan starrer Dabangg. Though his moves were considerably scaled down due to his knee injury, he compensated for it with his humourous one liners and jokes, telling the fans that the best dance steps were conceived in Bollywood when the actors were in pain, like when he filmed "shava shava" with an upset stomach. Khan also asked his fans on stage that they should not make him walk or bend since his knee was hurting very badly. He again came on stage to honour veteran actor Dharmendra for completing a golden run on celluloid. Bollywood was floored by the warmth of the fans who had come from different parts of Canada as well as from the US to catch a glimpse of the stars. Huge crowds were seen out the Fairmont York Hotel in Toronto for the last two days and screens and roars reached a crescendo even when a Ranveer Singh was sighted. The Fairmont hotel is situated opposite Union Station, a main railway station and the loud screens and cheers from the fans outside the hotel drew curious onlookers and passers by to check on what`s happening. In the evenings, police mounted on horses were deployed for bandobast. Indian delegates at the IIFA were surprised at the politeness with which the police handled the crowd and also the star gazing fans who did not cross the barricades put up by the police. Anil Kapoor, who has become a huge star amongst non Indian fans since Slumdog Millionaire, thanked people wherever he went for making the stars feel the warmth in Canada. Arshad Warsi declared that the people have been so sweet and given the actors so much love that he wanted to come back and live here. Australian cricketer Brett Lee who was paired in a music album with Asha Bhosale was happy to meet his idol at the awards function. "Asha ji, main tumhara hoon aur tumhara hi rahoonga", he told the ever green singing diva from the stage when he was called to give away an award. Ontario premiere Dalton McGuinty said, "It does not matter if you grew up in Brampton or Bangalore you grew up sharing stories. Movies lift us and inspire us." Canadian-Indian Actress Lisa Ray who has recovered from cancer made an appearance at the awards function. PTI