53RD IFFI KICKS OFF WITH A BANG
Glitz, glamour, with a dash of Indian and international cinema — the 53rd International Film Festival of India’s (IFFI) opening ceremony held in Goa was as grand as it gets. It started with the ceremonial lamp lighting by Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Singh Thakur, who said, “We aim to make India a powerhouse of content creation, especially regional cinema by scaling up regional festivals.” The Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, L Murugan, were also present at the ceremony.
Highlighting the Country of Focus session, Thakur added that this year marks 75 years of the India-France relationship, marked by a meeting between the leaders of the two nations — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron: “Continuing the spirit of India’s Country of Honour at Marché du Film at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, I am delighted to welcome France as the Country of Focus at the 53rd edition of IFFI.” The event was hosted by Aparshakti Khurana and Mrunal Thakur.
INDUSTRY TITANS FELICITATED
Many artistes from the industry were felicitated at the event. While actorproducer Chiranjeevi Konidela was honoured with the Indian Film Personality of the Year Award for 2022, writer V Vijayendra Prasad and actors Paresh Rawal, Ajay Devgn, Suniel Shetty and Manoj Bajpayee received special honours. Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura was conferred the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award.
STARS AHOY
Actor Varun Dhawan started off the event with a patriotic act. He left everyone in splits by imitating late actorfilmmaker Raj Kapoor, late actor Shammi Kapoor and actor Shah Rukh Khan by dancing to their songs. Actors Sara Ali Khan and Kartik Aaryan’s acts were saved for the last. Vani Tripathi Tikoo, Censor Board of Film Certification member and steering committee member for IFFI, says, “This year, we have created diversity for Indian cinema. When a Marathi film goes as an Oscar award entry from India, that’s the big story. We will have many films in the Indian panorama section from across India. We have a fantastic international selection of films, too.”
We will have many films in the Indian panorama section from across the country. VANI TRIPATHI TIKOO,
CBFC member