Every year, as part of the weekend-long festivities, IIFA puts up a special ‘IIFA Rocks’ night which is not just a musical extravaganza, but is also a chance to honour the winners of their technical awards. 2015 was no different – on Friday night, the green carpet was rolled out to welcome all of B-Town to a night filled with some good fashion and even better music.
The event, which was held at Malaysia’s national theatre, Istana Budaya, was hosted by Parineeti Chopra and Ayushmann Khurrana, and featured a line-up of ace talent putting on incredible performances. Jacqueline Fernandez kicked things off by grooving to some of her top tracks – Chittiyan Kalaiyan, Jaado Ki Jappi and Jumme Ki Raat. Javed Ali and the Nooran Sisters followed that up with a Sufi mash-up of some of A R Rahman‘s top songs – Chaiyya Chaiyya, Patakha Guddi, Khwaja Mere Khwaja and Tum Tak, to name a few.
Sonakshi Sinha made her debut on the IIFA Rocks stage as a singer, and was accompanied by Mika Singh and Nakash Aziz. Lead vocalist Ankit Tiwari set the bar higher by paying a tribute to Bollywood’s dancing heroes like Shammi Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty and Govinda. We hear he sang classics like Aaja Aaja, Baar Baar Dekho, I Am Disco Dancer, Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare and Bachna Ek Haseeno.
Kanika Kapoor, the voice behind songs like Baby, Lovely and Chittiyan Kalaiyan, also put on a great show for the audience. Meanwhile, Lisa Haydon, Lauren Gottlieb, Aditi Rao Hydari and Malaika Arora Khan also took to the stage to entertain the crowd.
The ‘main’ event is going to be held on Sunday night, so stay tuned for that – and lots more – during our exclusive coverage of this incredible weekend!