Praising the annual International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards for projecting Indian cinema at the global level, brand Ambassador and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan on Thursday said the Indian film industry had reached new levels of visibility abroad.

"Just look at where Indian cinema is today. Earlier in the 60s and 70s, it was looked down upon but now events like IIFA have given it credibility abroad," Bachchan said introducing the four-day award extravaganza in the Netherlands capital.

"The IIFA has been gaining in strength, projecting what Indian cinema is all about and taking it to a world where we want to go," the 'Big B' said who is in Amsterdam, with Indian filmstars Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan, Shahid Khan and Kareena Kapoor beside him.

Bachchan also recounted his meeting with Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende duing which he thanked the Premier for bestowing a new dignity to Indian cinema.

"We discussed last evening how entertainment could also be used for development and increasing tourism," he said.

Events like the IIFA would boost Indian tourists in Holland to 90,000 by the end of 2005 from the current 30,000, said Bachchan, adding the opening of the economy among other factors had helped the Indian middle-class open more to travelling abroad.