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NEW DELHI: New York State Independence Party Chairman Frank MacKay
will be one of the presenters at the Bollywood Awards Ceremony being
held on May 26 at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, which will
see the American-debut performances of a host of Indian celebrities
including Rang De Basanti’s Soha Ali Khan and Gangster’s
Kangana Ranaut.
 Soha,
daughter of actress Sharmila Tagore and the Nawab of Pataudi and
sister of Saif Ali Khan, will be performing to a medley of musical
hits. Soha, studied at Oxford University and is accredited with
a Master’s in International Relations from the London School
of Economics. In addition to acting in a number of light-hearted
and candy floss romantic films, she also received critical acclaim
for her performances in Rituparno Ghosh’s Antar Mahal and Rakeysh
Mehra’s Rang De Basanti.
Kangana Ranaut from Himachal Pradesh made her debut as a bar dancer
in Gangster and of a mentally-ill girl in Woh Lamhe (believed to
be based on the life of Parveen Babi). She is now acting in Suneel
Darshan’s Shaka Laka Boom Boom and Anurag Basu’s Metro.
Ranaut bagged Best Debut Awards At the Star Screen and GIFA (Global
Indian Film Awards) ceremonies. Vivek Oberoi and Mona Singh, who
will be the master of ceremonies at the Awards ceremony expected
to be attended by 15,000 people, are also making their American
debut.
 MacKay
was just appointed to the Board of Directors of the Bollywood Group
by Kamal Dandona, Chairman of the Bollywood Group. MacKay he published
his first music publication, "Network", at the age of
18 in 1985. He has since launched three nightclubs and promoted
the San Francisco-based heavy metal band Testament. By 2000, MacKay
became the youngest State Chairman of a political party in New York
State history and has been re-elected as State Chair of the Independence
Party of New York five times.
Other performers who have confirmed their participation include
Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal, Urmila Matonkar, Neha Dhupia, Raghav,
and Pakistan’s actress-singer Shahida Mini. Other’s attending
the show will include Hollywood’s Danny Glover, Phylicia Rashad,
Anupam Kher, Suresh Oberoi, Upen Patel, Rajkumar Hirani, and Dr.
Sanjay Gupta of CNN.
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