I’m not sure whether I’m dazzled or bamboozled. Or maybe that’s just puzzled. At any rate, my head is full of Z’s after the passage over the weekend of the Times of India Film Awards, a.k.a. TOIFA, or “TOFFEE,” as Mike De Jong is inclined to pronounce it. Not that you can blame Mike. This was the inaugural TOIFA event, so the B.C. government house leader was travelling in uncharted waters. Here he was, a representative of the province hosting the newest Bollywood awards, despite the fact that the movies are made in India, the vast majority of their fans are in India and the vast majority of the people who will watch the broadcast of the show are in India. And the only reason TOIFA was here at all was that his government pledged to spend nearly $11 million to put them on. That didn’t seem to bother him, even though he is also finance minister and has only recently undergone unseemly fiscal contortions to balance his 2013 budget.

Or that the local film industry is furious because the government is willing to spend millions on the film industry of another sovereign nation while refusing to increase the tax credits for the local industry, so as to keep it competitive with other North American film jurisdictions. It didn’t bother him or Premier Christy Clark, who turned up in traditional Indian garb, that Vancouver is still now and then referred to as Hollywood North, occasionally (because of the weather) Brollywood, but that Bollywood is in India. Mumbai, to be precise. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Mike’s head is full of Z’s after the weekend, although you have to hand it to him: He seemed game, joking at one point that he’s considering a career move to acting because “you never know when you might be looking for work.” Could be as early as May 15, Mike, especially if you keep spending the taxpayers’ dollars on apparently random attempts to buy votes.

On the other hand, it’s easy to be dazzled. BC Place was packed to the rafters with Bollywood fans. Some of the world’s most astonishingly beautiful people graced the red carpet, and the music and dancing beat the heck out of the annual attempt by Oscar to overcome his stodgy reputation. Nothing stodgy about Bollywood. It will be interesting to see if the $11-million investment pays off in increased tourism or new movie production. Vancouver has been a stand-in for Seattle or L.A. for so long, can Mumbai be such a stretch? And if it all comes to naught, maybe we’re just hosting the wrong awards show. If Christy and Mike are still running the government in 2014 (best performance in a science-fiction film?) maybe they’ll try Brazil or Moscow or Belgium. Belgium has a movie industry, doesn’t it? Meanwhile, it was fun while it lasted.