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.
Producer Boney Kapoor got teary-eyed while accepting Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR) Award on behalf of his late wife and eighties Bollywood superstar Sridevi.
Bollywood veteran Rishi Kapoor is upset because he feels the government does not treat the artistes' community well. He feels artistes are not honoured enough in India, the way it happens abroad.
Tanushree Dutta may not have announced a new film in a long time, but the actress sure believes in staying in shape. Lately, she has been spending a lot of time working out.
Tanushree, who kickstarted the Me Too campaign in Bollywood in 2018, in a recent interview said that she wanted to "stand up, raise my hands up and applaud Sona Mohapatra" for her guts to speak up against Malik.
Former beauty queen Manushi Chillar gave the first shot for her debut Hindi film "Prithviraj" on Monday. It was a "beautiful coincidence", she noted that she gave her first shot for the film on the same day she was crowned Miss World two years ago.
