Madrid will host the "Bollywood Oscars" on June 25, officials said Monday, with Spain hoping the glittering awards ceremony will help draw more tourists from fast-growing India.
Over 100 Bollywood stars will attend the International Indian Film Academy awards, which is expected to have a worldwide viewership of about 800 million people, according to organisers.
"It is going to be real, real madness," Anil Kapoor, one of India's most popular actors who starred in "Slumdog Millionaire", told a news conference in Madrid.
"There is a tremendous amount of similarity between the Spanish people and Indian people. We believe in enjoying life, we believe in family values, we love to dance."
The ceremony, first held in 2000, honours the previous year's films and is filled with over the top performances. It is held in a different country each year.
The choice of Madrid to host the event comes as Spain is pushing to diversify its tourism base beyond the traditional northern European sunseekers and capture a greater slice of the rising tourism flows from emerging economies like India.
Last year just 85,000 Indians visited Spain but this is nearly a threefold rise from 30,000 visitors in 2011, the director general of Spanish tourist board Turespana, Marta Blanco, said at the presentation of the awards show.
"It is a country with great potential. We want a better positioning of our country in this strategic market," she said.
The Indian film awards is expected to bring 15,000 visitors to Madrid during the week of the ceremony and generate 15 million euros ($16.7 million) in revenue, organisers said.
Several hundred people turned out on Sunday for a flashmob hosted by Kapoor and two other top Bollywood stars -- actress Sonakshi Sinha and heartthrob Hrithik Roshan -- in front to Madrid city hall to promote the awards ceremony.
The actors then posted tweeted pictures of themselves eating jamon (ham) at a Madrid market, dancing flamenco and meeting with Real Madrid starts Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema at the club's Bernabeu stadium.
Known for catchy songs and whimsical backdrops, India's film industry is thriving commercially with the country producing over 1,000 movies a year -- more than Hollywood.
The Indian industry sells over four billion movie tickets a year, according to the International Indian Film Academy award organisers.
The Indian film awards were held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia last year. Europe last hosted the event in 2007 when it was held in Yorkshire, England.
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Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh (L) and Arjun Kapoor (R) dance as they host the 16th IIFA awards.
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Actor Shahid Kapoor poses on the green carpet at the IIFA awards in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vishal Bhardwaj's insurgency movie 'Haider', an adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' scooped the major trophies at the ceremony.
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Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D'souza pose on the green carpet. The couple's home production 'Lai Bhaari' won the award for 'outstanding contribution to a regional film'.
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Actor Farhan Akhtar poses on the green carpet at the IIFA awards. He was last seen in 'Dil Dhadakne Do' which has been the top
worldwide opener of 2015.
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Actor Hrithik Roshan poses on the green carpet at the IIFA awards.
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Actress Deepika Padukone looks glamorous as she poses in a traditional Indian sari. Her last film 'Piku' also won positive reviews at the box office.
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Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha looked glamorous on the green carpet, but danced to quintessential 'guy' songs like 'Jumma Chumma' on the stage.
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Bollywood actor Kay Kay Menon, second left, speaks after receiving his award — best performance in a negative role — at the IIFA awards.
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Actress Kaajal Aggarwal posed on the green carpet in a glamorous
Gauri and Nainika outfit.
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Actress Bipasha Basu went all red as she posed on the green carpet at the IIFA 2015 awards.
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There was a
slightly awkward moment for Jacqueline Fernandez as the IIFA host Arjun Kapoor took a jibe at the actress' last film 'Roy', saying that "The film should be called 'Destroy' and not 'Roy'."
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Bollywood actress Aditi Rao Hydari looked glamorous as she posed on the green carpet at IIFA 2015 awards.
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The 'ABCD 2' actress Lauren Gottlieb looked glamorous as she posed in an all red outfit on the green carpet.
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Bollywood actress Malaika Arora Khan looked glamorous as she posed in a gorgeous
Ashi Studio gown on the green carpet.
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Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra posed on the green carpet at the IIFA 2015 awards in a glamorous black
Georges Chakra gown.
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Telugu star Venkatesh poses on the green carpet as he arrives at the International Indian Film Academy in Kuala Lumpur.
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Actor Anil Kapoor who earned rave reviews for his performance in Zoya Akhtar's 'Dil Dhadakne Do' rocked a quintessential black suit on the green carpet.
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Bollywood actress Kainaat Arora poses on the green carpet at the IIFA 2015 awards.
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Vivek Oberoi poses on the green carpet at the IIFA awards. The actor, who was last seen on the big screen two years ago, has had a lot on his plate since he became a father of a baby girl.
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Bollywood director Zoya Akhtar, whose last multi-starrer 'Dil Dhadakne Do' has been earning positive reviews from the critics as well as the audiences, poses on the green carpet.
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Bollywood actress Kainaat Arora poses on the green carpet.
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'Band Baaja Baaraat' actress Anushka Sharma looks glamorous as she poses in a red gown on the green carpet at the IIFA 2015 awards.
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Bollywood singer Mika (C) poses on the green carpet as he arrives to attend the final day of the IIFA 2015 awards.
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Hollywood actor William Baldwin poses on the green carpet as he arrives to attend the last day of the IIFA awards.
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Malaysian model Lee Yvonee poses on the green carpet at the IIFA awards.
