The traveling circus that is Bollywood is coming to town.

For the first time ever, a North American city will serve as host of a major Indian-based Bollywood award show.

Toronto was chosen to host the 2011 International Indian Film Academy Awards, it was announced by show organizers and the Ontario government. The show will be held June 16th – 19th.

“With so many film buffs living in Ontario, Indian film stars and executives will feel right at home,” Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty told reporters during his current visit to Mumbai.

Each year since its founding in 2000, the award show was held in a different international city. Last year’s event was held at The Venetian Hotel and Resort in Macau, China; in years past, the event was hosted in cities such as London, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Dubai and Johannesburg.

Dubbed the Indian equivalent of the Academy Awards, IIFA has honored artistic and technical achievement in Indian cinema, with nominated films primarily hailing from the country’s most popular regional film industry, Bollywood.

The inaugural show was held at London’s Millennium Dome in 2000.

As in years past, hoards of Bollywood stars are expected to attend the 2011 IIFA in Toronto. Last year, Amitabh Bachchan was the award show’s spokesperson and brand ambassador.

“The city has much to offer, and the weekend and awards promise to be bigger than ever as IIFA steps into Canada,” Viraf Sarkari, IIFA’s director said in a released statement. “We have earlier experienced a great response in Toronto … and hope to find the same experience with IIFA 2011.”

According to governing officials, the award show is expected to attract as many as 40,000 visitors to Toronto, with a television audience expected to be at about 350 million viewers.

Toronto itself was an attractive draw as a host for the award show, as South Asians are reportedly among the largest minority groups in the city. A 2006 Statistics Canada study on community profiles in the country’s largest city reported nearly 300,000 South Asians living in Toronto, constituting about 12 percent of the city’s population – making South Asians the largest minority group in the provincial state capitol.