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.
The actor has revealed that the process has already started with two places being locked in Andhra Pradhesh's Nellore and Kurnool cities. The process will be in full swing by June end and will be completed by September in all the states.
While sharing memes featuring the two actors, fans shared their love for Vicky and Katrina and even said the two look nice together. Some fans even tweeted suggesting that the two of them should feature in a film together.
She was in for a surprise when the cast and crew of the dance reality show "Super Dancer: Chapter 4" organised a surprise bash for her. Shilpa is a judge on the show.
Actress Sonali Bendre took to Instagram on Sunday to share a picture of herself during the time she was battling cancer. As the world celebrates Cancer Survivors Day on June 6, the actress said that she won't let the illness ever define her.
Singer Neha Kakkar on Monday thanked family, friends and fans for wishing her on her birthday, which she celebrated on June 6. She was particularly grateful to husband Rohanpreet Singh for giving her the special gift called life.
