First ever Punjabi International Film Academy Awards

Chandigarh, kulbir kalsi. The Parvasi Media Group of Canada on Friday announced instituting the first ever Punjabi International Film Academy Awards to take Punjabi films to a higher plank and to get international recognition to Punjabi artists.

Making the announcement at a press conference here Parvasi Media Group president Rajinder Saini, and a host of Bollywood and Punjabi stars -- Om Puri, Prem Chopra and Arya Babbar -- among others, said Punjabi films have been finding increasing popularity outside India thanks to rapidly increasing Punjabi population abroad and good quality of Punjabi films made in recent years. Ontario already has the biggest Punjabi population (approx 4,00,000) outside India. Punjabi films get excellent response in Canada and is considered key market for Punjabi films. Punjabi films are therefore being aggressively marketed in Canada and other parts of the world like US, UK and Australia.

Despite the long history of Punjabi films, the dominance of Punjabi people in Bollywood and the��increasing popularity of recent Punjabi films� there is no major Award function dedicated to rewarding excellence in Punjabi films.

 After consultation with a large number of Punjabi film personalities and their enthusiastic response�Parvasi Media Group�has decided to start�Punjabi International Film Academy Awards (PIFAA). The first such Award function will be held in Toronto at�Air Canada Center,�(One of the most famous landmarks in Canada)�on Saturday 4^th�August 2012. It will subsequently be taken to different cities in Canada, including Vancouver, and other parts of the world over the following years.

They said �the massive response received from the Punjabi community from all walks of life at a pre launch dinner held here yesterday has given us added strength and conviction that the awards are going to be a grand success.�