Hollywood’s Dalton McGuinty praises bollywood and its magic worldwide at IIFA

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty with Anil Kapoor

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Preity Zinta and Anil Kapoor

The song, the dance, the drama, the action withstanding - Bollywood is 'magic', told Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at the inaugural press conference of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend and Awards on Thursday.

'More than the glamour, action, drama, Bollywood is all about magic!' McGuinty, who heads the government of Canada's largest province of which Toronto is capital’, said journalists.

'We have the second largest community of Indians living outside Canada. But of course the Canadians should be ready to be awed and amazed by the magic of Bollywood. Canadians will soon know look at Shah Rukh Khan as Johnny Depp and Priyanka Chopra as the Angelina Jolie of Bollywood,' he included.

McGuinty recalled a strange but humorous brush that he had with the frenzy attached with the Hindi film industry in his last trip to Mumbai.

'I came for an event, and the paparazzi went click, click...till one man said...'Sir, you're blocking my view of Celina Jaitley'! I was zapped. I have never been able to recover from that...but that gave me a good sense of how crazy people are for Bollywood,' he told.

IIFA is a three-day show and has brought a flurry of stars including Mallika Sherawat, Anil Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Boman Irani, among others to Toronto. Superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be adding glamour to the event too.

Indian consul general Preeti Saran hopes the event will boost the bilateral relations between the two countries with Bollywood's 'midas touch'.

Mallika Sherawat’s closeness with Ontario Premier at IIFA!

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty

Mallika Sherawat

This one never misses a golden chance. After getting clicked with US President Barack Obama, Indian actress Mallika Sherawat was seen in chat with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA).

The actress, who has made a name for herself in the international press thanks to her appearance with Jackie Chan at the Cannes International Film Festival for Chinese movie 'The Myth', is here for the premiere of her forthcoming film 'Double Dhamaal' and to promote her international project 'Politics of Love'.

'This is my first time at the IIFA awards. I just want to enjoy and have a great time,' told Mallika, who will also groove to Bollywood tracks at the awards night Saturday.

Extraordinarily dressed in a sari, with a simple blouse, Mallika was among a host of Bollywood celebrities like Anil Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Bipasha Basu, Boman Irani, Riteish Deshmukh, Anupam Kher, Subhash Ghai, Satish Kaushik and Sonu Niigaam, who were invited on stage for the inaugural press conference for the three-day IIFA Weekend and Awards.

While all the actors moved down the stage, Mallika chose to stay on and engaged the Premier in some animated conversation, inviting several clicks from the paparazzi in the bargain.

Astonishingly, this was the same Mallika, who was hiding away from the media, and refused to talk to media persons at a midnight market here Wednesday night.

A source said, 'Mallika was throwing a lot of tantrums. She refused to speak to the media, and took trolleys full of clothes to try at The Bay (a store) so that she could avoid the media.'

And it seems that, she was 'jetlagged' after a flight from Los Angeles to Toronto!