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.
Preparations for the much-hyped marriage between Bollywood stars Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif have begun at the Six Senses Fort Barwara located in Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan. An event management company has been entrusted with the responsibility of making all the necessary arrangements for the big day.
The film, directed by Kabir Khan, is a biographical sports drama based on the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team. '83', which also stars Tahir Raj Bhasin, Jiiva, Saqib Saleem, Harrdy Sandhu, Ammy Virk, Pankaj Tripathi, Boman Irani, Nishant Dahiya and Sahil Khattar, is all set to release on December 24.
The plot has ample face-offs and action sequences that are astutely choreographed. The fights that feature Salman Khan are mostly captured in slow motion, probably to camouflage the hero's waning spirit.
Delhi Assembly's Committee on Peace and Harmony on Thursday summoned Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut to depose before it on December 6 (at 12 noon) over her recent social media post in which she had labelled farmers protesting against Centre's three farm laws as "Khalistani terrorists".
The film which will soon go into production, will be helmed by 'Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl' director Sharan Sharma and is slated to hit the theatres on October 7, 2022.
Actress Sushmita Sen has called her web-series 'Aarya', which has earned an International Emmy Awards nomination, a rewarding experience as she says it changed her life on many levels.
