Committee is headed by Dr. Kiran Patel, Chetan Shah.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A audio/video communications company in Tampa Bay, Florida, is suing the local organizers of the Indian International Film Academy (IIFA) Awards for breach of contract, seeking $7 million in damages for allegedly giving them a contract to help organize events leading up to the awards show later this month, but cutting the contract off with no explanation nor reimbursement.
AVI-SPL, the Tampa-based company that filed the lawsuit, claims that the Go Bollywood Tampa Bay host committee – which has been promoting and raising money for the IIFA Awards, set to take place from April 24-26 at the city’s Raymond James Stadium – hired them to help with A/V support for various “buzz events,” which were meant to get the local community excited and pumped up for the upcoming awards show.
Contracts were allegedly signed in which AVI-SPL put up $350,000 in advance, while the Go Bollywood committee would reimburse them $11 million for renting their equipment, and for services rendered. In the event that the “buzz events” got cancelled, the contracts stipulated AVI-SPL would be paid $6.4 million no matter what.
In November, however, whispers arose that the events could be cancelled; in December, they finally were cancelled without explanation, and AVI-SPL never got its money. The suit specifically names Kiran Patel and Chetan Shah, two of Tampa Bay’s most well-known community leaders and the two heads of the Go Bollywood committee, for knowingly cancelling the events AVI-SPL was contracted for and refusing to pay the amount agreed upon.
Speaking to the Tampa Tribune, Shah claims that discussions with AVI-SPL did take place, but that the company never actually won the contract. Shah also says that AVI-SPL’s former vice-president, Jason Atwell, made promises of landing huge hip-hop stars like Jay-Z and Beyonce, but never gave any indication that he could actually secure such big names.
Since the time of these negotiations, Atwell left the company, and has not spoken openly as to why. Regarding the lawsuit, Patel has also refused to speak publically about it, while Shah reportedly does not want to discuss the actual monetary figures named in the suit.
According to Shah, the fate of the buzz events and the choice of contractor was ultimately up to the IIFA organizers in India, who shot the idea down after seeing that Atwell and AVI-SPL would most likely not be able to come through on the promises they made.
IIFA executive director Andre Timmins also spoke to the Tampa Tribune, simply saying that AVI-SPL never won the contract to begin with, so therefore the lawsuit has no merit whatsoever.
The IIFA Awards is coming to the US for the very first time, and is expected to draw huge crowds to Tampa Bay. Some 30,000 attendees are expected to fill the Raymond James Stadium – the very same one where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team plays – and more than 800 million viewers around the world are expected to tune in to watch the lavish event. Bollywood celebrities like Deepika Padukone and Farhan Akhtar are expected to be present, too.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com