The IIFA awards, which kickstarts in Toronto from Thursday, will be missing some starry glitter this year with the absence of regulars like Bachchan family and Salman Khan. This will be the second time that mega star Amitabh Bachchan and his family will not be attending the awards. Bachchan has been brand ambassador of the event ever since its inception in 2000. However, Bachchans gave the annual event a skip last year in Colombo following boycott calls from the South Indian film industry and IIFA decided to remove the brand ambassador post for this year. While Salman Khan says he is too busy with 'Bodyguards' to attend the Toronto gala.

“It was fun performing last year but I won't be able to make it this year because of my shooting schedule of 'Bodyguard',” Salman said. When asked whether he will miss the event, the actor's cheeky reply was: “IIFA will miss me definitely this year.” However, his friend-turned-foe Shah Rukh Khan is planning to attend the award show after a gap of seven years. The three-day awards gala will also have industry biggies like Karan Johar, Dia Mirza, Zayed Khan and a host of other celebrities.

Upcoming movies like 'Love Breakup Zindagi', 'Aazaan', 'Politics of Love' and 'Tell me O Kkhuda' will be showcased during the weekend. The IIFA Weekend this year, will open with the IIFA World Premiere of comedy film 'Double Dhamaal', a sequel to the 2007 hit 'Dhamaal'. This year, IIFA film festival will be kicked off with 'Chillar Party', co-produced by Ronnie Screwvalla and Salman Khan's Being Human (SKBH) Productions.