Known for its slick presentation, the ninth IIFA Awards function this year  in Bangkok however didn’t live up to  expectations, reports Shubha Shetty-Saha

The 1,000-odd-member audience in the Siam Niramit Hall (the hall has a Guinness record of being the highest stage in the world) in the land of smiles, Bangkok, was in for a few frowns. The show started late, there were goof ups galore and the repetitive performances were simply tiresome. On the whole the show seemed like a hastily put together college act—almost juvenile.

Anchor Urmila Matondkar fumbled throughout the show.

The saving grace was the funny lines spouted by co-anchors Riteish Deshmukh and Boman Irani. The two guys were extremely funny (especially their spoof on Sarkar Raj) till they overstepped the limits and made unnecessary digs at Aamir Khan’s height and how he had taken away the directorial credit from Amol Gupte.

Also, certain digs were made at Shah Rukh Khan’s sexuality. Making fun of people who have not attended your awards ceremony seems to have become a routine—though one must admit that Riteish is a brilliant mimic.

When Abhishek Bachchan was giving a ‘thank you’ speech after he won the Style Icon Award, for some reason his wife Aishwarya Rai, who was in the audience, couldn’t stop giggling. Abhishek actually snapped at her asking, “What’s so funny?” and then sulked on stage!

However, all the ‘boredom’ was forgotten when Akshay Kumar performed to the title song of his next film 'Singh is King'. The actor brought the life back into the audience by actually  stepping off the stage and dancing amongst them—a truly power-packed performance.