A starry affair: Bollywood celebs flag off Indian Film Festival of Melbourne
Darpan News Desk IANS, 12 Aug, 2022 03:17 PM
Mumbai, Aug 12 (IANS) Bollywood celebrities such as Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vaani Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia, Shefali Shah, among many others, flagged off the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne to its physical form in Australia with its 13th edition.
Other personalities who were a part of this include singer Sona Mohapatra, former cricketer and ex captain of India Kapil Dev and filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Kabir Khan, Aparna Sen, Nikkhil Advani and Shoojit Sircar.
The festival, which kicked off on Friday (August 12), will conclude on August 20.
Commenting on the occasion, Abhishek Bachchan, who is "absolutely loving" being in the moment in Melbourne, is excited to watch the screening of his 'Manmarziyaan' co-star Taapsee Pannu's upcoming film 'Dobaaraa'.
He said, "I'm looking forward to watching 'Dobaaraa'. My almost entire family has represented India here and I'm very proud of it. I'm looking forward to being part of all the celebrations and I thank the government and Mitu for having me here. It feels great to be given the Leadership in Cinema award".
The actors took to the podium in presence of a special audience to announce this year's programme schedule with 'Dobaaraa' being the opening night film.
Other events lined up apart from the screening of over 120 films are the Independence Day Celebrations of India and an array of panel discussions amongst other specially curated events.
When asked about the South and Hindi film debate at the festival, actress Tamannaah Bhatia said, "I think this conversation is only unique to India, whenever I travel abroad I never hear people distinguish, they simply call it Indian cinema. And such is the case even here at IFFM."
She feels that the audience wants to see pan India films as more of such content is being made and being admired by all.
Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who launched actor Anupam Kher in the Hindi film industry with his 1984 film, "Saaransh", says that whenever the 64-year-old achieves something, his heart is filled with pride, despite their different political ideologies.
Actress-dancer Shefali Jariwala is one of the new contestants of "Bigg Boss". She isn't a fan of cooking but she learnt the basics when she decided to be a part of the show.
Film maker Mahesh Bhatt and Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan on Friday stressed on celebrating India's diversity, with the auteur also lashing out against those imposing their language on the people.
Choreographer-filmmaker Remo D'Souza has just wrapped up the shoot of his upcoming directorial venture "Street Dancer", starring Varun Dhawan. Remo says the actor has impressed him with his dance skills and fans have every reason to be excited about the film.
Kriti told IANS: "On the first day of shoot, after my first take, I went to check my shot. Everyone said it was good. Amit ji looked at me and asked, you want one more? I said yes. Then he asked me, why?
