The highly anticipated 21st International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA 2020) has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The event was scheduled to be held at the end of March in Madhya Pradesh, Indore.
In its press release IIFA said that the decision to postpone the awards celebrations was made after consulting the Madhya Pradesh Government, the IIFA management and stakeholders from the film industry, to ensure the health and safety of IIFA’s fans and the general community at large.
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused, and hope that all concerned understand the sensitivity of the situation”, the organisers added.
IIFA 2020 was to have a series of firsts with it being the first time that the event would be held outside Mumbai in India, and also the first time that Bollywood superstar Salman Khan was to host the prestigious award ceremony at his ‘home town’ Indore.
The much-awaited IIFA Weekend and Awards 2020 celebrations were to be held from March 27 to 29 with a pre-event festival to be held in Bhopal on March 21.
The new date for the awards ceremony is yet to be set, though IIFA has said that it is fully committed to hosting IIFA 2020 in Madhya Pradesh at a later date and fresh plans will be announced at the earliest.