When it comes to the creative fusions of North American and South Asian sounds, Mississauga's Vikas Kohli is kind of a big deal.

A composer and producer who works with musicians and filmmakers, Kohli's FatLabs studio is a hub for musicians as far ranging as Swollen Members MC Moka Only, pop crooner Justin Nozuka and international bangra artist Mika Singh.

"The thing that ties it together is they're usually artists who are looking to do something that maybe has a pop appeal but a fusion type element to it," explained Kohli.

He spoke to CTV.ca in the midst of a schedule that's gone from busy to insane in the lead-up to the Indian International Film Academy awards being held in Toronto on June 25. It's the first time the event is being held in North America.

"I'll work with a punk band who might do three-chord punk but with instruments people might not expect. I've also worked with Bollywood artists. For them, their version of world music is what's going on here in North America, so (I try to give) them something they haven't heard."

Kohli's dance card is busy lately thanks to the Bollywood Monster Mash-Up. It's a massive concert he's producing in Mississauga's newly-renovated Celebration Square the night before the awards show.

One of the city's IIFA "Buzz Events," it will feature more than 50 performers -- including singers, dancers and instrumentalists -- and promises to take viewers on a journey through South Asian music with Canadian accents.

"We've got an electronic music component, remixing classic Bollywood songs from the 1960s and 1970s, and on top of that, within that set itself, there's also going to be a live improv set with two south Indian classical musicians," he said, listing off an improbable array of musical performers and styles appearing at the free outdoor event.

"We've got a 15-person Bollywood dance troupe… We've got a dhol troupe…. We've got a rock act -- a South Asian rock singer that's going to be playing with a live band and doing Bollywood songs and western songs from the 1980s and 1990s... There will be an orchestral string section on stage with him as well."

The rock musician he refers to is Toronto singer-songwriter jsin. He said he's looking forward to combining his Indian ancestry with his passion for the likes of Guns N' Roses and Radiohead, even if it means practicing his "very poor" Hindi so he can get the Indian songs just right.

"We're purposely doing one of my original songs first, and people are going to be like, 'What is this guy doing here?'" jsin told CTV.ca. "Then the second song is an Indian song and people are going to be wowed."

The icing on the concert cake is Bollywood singer and past Indian Idol competitor Monali Thakur, whose single "Zara Zara Touch Me" from the 2008 film "Race" was a major Indian hit.

Kohli notes that it's common for Indian artists to sing to backing tracks when they perform in North America, but in this case, he's flying in Thakur's entire band.

"It's something I'm taking great pride in," he said, describing a schedule that involves regular calls to India at 1 or 2 a.m. local time and dealing with organizational details during the regular workday.

"It's a tremendous amount of work," he said.

Not one to lose sight of the bigger picture, Kohli said he knows his concert, and the GTA's IIFA festivities in general, will be well with the effort.

He said the interchange of Indian and Canadian arts and business leaders will generate opportunities for artists from both sides of the world.

"Deals happen, creative or business deals, when they can trust someone," he said. "That trust happens only when they can spend time together face to face.

He also said he hopes the exposure to a variety of South Asian music and film gives GTA residents a less-clichéd sense of what Indian culture is all about.

So does dancer Lopa Sarkar, whose Divine Heritage Artistry dance troupe is performing a number that mixes Bollywood, flamenco and western styles.

"We all have our ideas of what South Asian art is, but all of us from North America have this whole other background of what we've been exposed to," she told CTV.ca. "I like that Vikas will take something and just turn it on its head… It's a big testament to local talent. And be ready to dance."