Bollywood superstars could be heading to Bradford if a bid to bring Asia's international film 'Oscars' to the UK is a success.

The Yorkshire Tourist Board has submitted a bid to the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) to host the 2007 awards in Yorkshire instead of Mumbai.

The bid has the backing of Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Duke of York and was the brainwave of Bradford-born businessman Zulfi Karim.

If the bid is accepted, around 400 cinema stars including Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachan, heartthrobs Abhishek Bachan, Shahrukh Khan, Anil Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan and screen sirens Rani Mukherjee and Aishwarya Rai, who starred in Bride and Prejudice, will descend on the region.

The four-day long celebration traditionally takes place in June and begins with a star-studded red carpet event.

This is followed by a charity cricket match with stars pitted against sportsmen.

Events end with the IIFA awards, which are screened all over the world.

Yorkshire Tourist Board has put in the collective bid shared by Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, York and Hull. Tony Blair said: "The UK Government wholeheartedly supports Yorkshire's bid.

"We are already supporting the British Film Industry with the forthcoming British Indian co-production film treaty, which will set Bollywood scripts against Britain's scenery."

The proposal to bring the multi-million pound four-day celebration to the region is spearheaded by David Andrew, chief executive of the Yorkshire Tourist Board and fellow board member and bid director Zulfi Karim.

Mr Karim is a former commercial director of Bradford International Festival. He said Yorkshire had already seen off competition from Melbourne and Marrakech to host the awards and was now up against New York.

He said: "This is a huge opportunity for Yorkshire.

"We offer a cocktail of cultures, a fantastic landscape and a great heritage."

Mr Karim said the IIFA Weekend would attract between 15,000 and 20,000 visitors to the area.

He added: "Typically a minimum of 8,000 of them stay over an average three-night period and thousands more come for the individual events or to simply be a part of the IIFA Weekend."

If accepted the event could generate around £10million for the area.

Mr Karim said: "This gives us an opportunity to show people what Bradford is really like."

The results of the bid will be announced at this year's awards ceremony in Dubai in June.

Sanjib Sahota, events director for Sony Television said: "Events like this are excellent at regenerating a city, and the awards would definitely increase the number of visitors to Bradford.

"The test will be long-term and if successful it is important to build on the bid and develop further activities."