ZEE Cine Awards, launched in 1998 by ZEE Network, will be hosted in Dubai this year. Announcing this Yogesh Radhakrishnan, business head, ZEE Cinema, and special projects manager, ZEE Network, said, "The Indian film industry is now a global phenomenon with its fan base extending not only to Indians, but to different nationalities of the world. This is why we have decided to move the awards from India to Dubai - a truly cosmopolitan and international setting for this prestigious event. Our focus is to showcase the best of Indian cinema to the world. With ZEE Cine awards 2004, we will be able to provide an impetus to the crossover of Indian cinema to the global audiences."

The event, being held in association with Dubai Media City, will take place on February 26, before an audience of over 8,000 and an international television audience of hundreds of millions. This will be the first time an Indian cinema awards event would be staged outside the country. Over 200 leading Indian film actors, producers, directors, music directors will attend the event with live performances from stars including Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan and Lara Dutta in a show expected to last four hours.