Akshay Kumar to miss IIFA Awards for family holiday

Forget about performing live, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar won't even be attending the 10th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards night in Macau June 13. The actor has kept aside the month for a family vacation, specially chalked out with his son.

'The family vacation was planned well in advance to coincide with Akshay's son Aarav's school holidays. Akshay doesn't like leaving Aarav behind when he is out of the country. At the same time he doesn't want his son to miss school. So the annual holiday was planned well in advance,' said a source close to Akshay.

'No power on earth, not even IIFA, is going to persuade Akshay to take even a small break from the holiday, let alone break his little boy's heart,' the source added.

IIFA organisers had in fact suggested that Akshay fly down from wherever he was to Macau, China, for the star-studded event. When Akshay refused to perform, the organisers said he could come down to Macau with his wife and son just to attend.

But Akshay wouldn't relent.

'Akshay planned the holiday for his son well in advance. The two sat together and decided which places to visit and what spots of the world would be of most interest to the boy. He rushed through his current assignments to keep June free. Nothing else matters at the moment,' the source said.

The 10th IIFA Awards will be held at the Venetian-Macau Resort on the night of June 13. It is set to to be a glitzy affair with performances by Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor amongst others.

Bollywood actors Boman Irani and Riteish Deshmukh, who had the audience in splits with their humour at the awards last year in Bangkok, will play hosts to the cine event again in Macau. Joining the two would be beauty queen-turned-actress Lara Dutta.