When Canadian-born Bollywood actress Lisa Ray told reporters: "It's not every day that Bollywood comes to Toronto so why not dress up and have some fun?" she could easily have been voicing the sentiments of thousands of Bollywood buffs gathered at the Silver City Cineplex in Brampton on Thursday. Braving the chill and the slight drizzle, the ardent movie fans took it upon themselves to make stars including Anil Kapoor, Kangna Ranaut, Mallika Sherawat, Riteish Deshmukh and Arshad Warsi feel welcome on the opening day of the International Indian Film Academy Awards weekend. In typical Bollywood style, they made the Mission Impossible IV actor feel like a rockstar. No sooner had he stepped on to the symbolic eco-friendly green carpet, high-octane name-chanting and their exuberant high-fives engulfed him. "I am loving all this. Bollywood has evolved in a good way. We are making better films, utilising better technology and the world is slowly sitting up to take notice — and you can see how much they enjoy our films," said Kapoor, cheerfully pointing to his frenzied fans pushing against the metal barricades. He was joined by the cast of Double Dhamaal including Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Kangna Ranaut and Ashish Chaudhry.

"Double Dhamaal is a comedy without any pretensions. It's in your face and it's goofy. It's a perfect way to begin IIFAs with smiles on their faces," Warsi said. Though its leading actor Sanjay Dutt bowed out of the IIFAs, the other stars filled the void nicely. The green-carpet reception was preceded by a glittering press conference to kick off IIFA activities. Hosts Boman Irani and Deshmukh got the ball rolling. "It's a proud moment for me and Boman. We are hosting IIFA for the fourth time and it's so wonderful to get such a warm reception. I feel very special today," said Deshmukh. Before his appearance at the conference, he was accosted by dozens of teenagers who were camping outside the Fairmont York Hotel to catch a glimpse of the stars trickling in to participate. Urja Mehta, 19, is one fan.

"We have been here for more than three hours and this is the first time that we are seeing these actors in person — In India they make a lot of appearances, but this is a place where we can see all our favourite actors under one roof," Mehta said. Most of the stars including Ranveer Singh, Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Dia Mirza and Ranbir Kapoor have already flown in and are busy rehearsing for the D-day performances. tabloid! on Saturday gives you the highlights from the opening day.