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.
Superstar Salman Khan is all praises for his friend Shah Rukh Khan as the latter reportedly rescued Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's manager Archana Sadanand from a fire incident during the Bachchan Diwali bash.
Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan could not grace the Sharjah Book Fair this year owing to health issues. The Bachchan fans in the UAE who were eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of their star, were left disheartened.
Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan will be unveiling the trophies of the T20 World Cups -- both men and women slated to be held next year in Australia -- in Melbourne on Friday.
Actor Ayushmann Khurrana, who is gearing up for the release of "Bala", says back-to-back success of films makes an actor more fearless and confident, and gives him freedom to take risks.
"I think this has been the most special year of my life. I actually got to live my dream of becoming an actor. That's what I wanted to do my entire life," Ananya told IANS.
