The 27th edition of IIFA was formally introduced at a press conference on Thursday, with Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and other actors on stage in Abu Dhabi. The two-day ceremony will run on January 22 and 23, 2027 at Etihad Arena on Yas Island.
The announcements were mostly familiar: performances from Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Rashmika Mandanna and Shahid Kapoor, plus a hosting line-up built around a familiar mix of stars. But the sharpest line of the afternoon belongs to Varun Dhawan, who used his hosting debut to make a case about what the ceremony should actually be for.
The ‘F’ in IIFA
Varun will host IIFA 2027 alongside Karan Johar, Ananya Panday and Maniesh Paul. He made his intentions clear early: “In the word IIFA, the most important letter is F, which means film.” He argued that award shows now talk about everything except the films, while the people who actually make them have been pushed out of the frame.
“I am a technician’s son. I always feel that the importance technicians or the people who make films used to get earlier, which we don’t give now,” he said, an implicit nod to his father, filmmaker David Dhawan. When Salman Khan noted that times had changed, Varun answered that the job now is to change them back: “We are going to make sure this is going to be only about films.”
The technician line lands with some memory attached. Hindi cinema’s craft conversations have long circled the same question — whether awards can honour the people behind the camera as loudly as the faces in front of it. A host promising to centre technicians is easy to say at a press conference and harder to build into a two-night running order.
The lighter notes
The mood was otherwise playful. Salman, who will also perform, advised Varun against the long shift. “Don’t host. It takes six hours to host. Just do this and leave,” he said, recreating his signature step with Varun on stage. He turned the same dry humour on Rashmika Mandanna, whose IIFA debut drew the question of why she had taken so long. As Rashmika said she was excited to celebrate the technicians and actors behind cinema, Salman stood beside her silently gesturing “for money” — a moment that was shared widely within minutes. Rashmika kept her answer simple: this is her first season, and she is excited.
The digital stage
IIFA’s digital awards also got their host: Pankaj Tripathi, in his first stint in the role, alongside his Mirzapur co-stars Ali Fazal and Abhishek Banerjee. Tripathi admitted he was uneasy. “I am scared because I am not used to it and I speak slowly,” he said. His forecast for his own style: “I will do hosting which will look spiritual.”
Here is the line-up in brief:
- Main ceremony: January 22-23, 2027, Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
- Main hosts: Karan Johar, Varun Dhawan, Ananya Panday, Maniesh Paul
- Performers: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna
- Digital awards hosts: Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Abhishek Banerjee
The test for IIFA 2027 will not be the opening act; it will be the running order behind it. Varun has set a marker in public — films first, technicians included. Whether that survives a two-night broadcast is the story to follow in January.
Source: Moneycontrol
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