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.
Bollywood actress and former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen is elated on being conferred the International Association of Working Women Award for an outstanding performance by a female actor in a TV series for her show 'Aarya 2'. The award is presented by the DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF), which is currently underway virtually starting from January 16 to January 30.
Priyanka Chopra has achieved what every star anywhere in the world aspires for -- to be on the cover of 'Vanity Fair'. She's on the cover of the February 2022 edition of the magazine celebrated internationally as much for its in-depth articles as for its cutting-edge photography.
Jointly produced by Dharma Productions, Viacom18 and Shakun Batra's Jouska Films, the movie will have its World Premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on February 11, 2022.
Vicky and Katrina tied the nuptial knot on December 9 at Six Senses Fort Barwara Hotel in Rajasthan in an intimate ceremony with just 120 guests in attendance. The three-day wedding festivities started from December 7 and ended with KatVic making it official through their social media posts.
Tagging her husband Nick Jonas, the actress added: "Please explain how this still happens to women? Should I add my IMDb link to my bio?" The Matrix Resurrections' also features Carrie-Anne Moss, Neil Patrick Harris, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, among others. It is scheduled to hit the theaters on December 22.
It features voice overs by Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, who familiarise the audience with what's about to unfold. Blending the themes of mythology and sci-fi, it speaks about ancient powers that are unfathomable to the general masses before lead actor Ranbir Kapoor makes an appearance with Lord Shiva overlooking him.
