Panaji: A galaxy of stars from the Hindi film industry will be attending the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2017, which will be inaugurated by Shah Rukh Khan on November 20. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan will be awarded the Personality of the Year award at the closing ceremony of the event on November 28.
Filmmaker and vice-chairman of the State-owned Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), Rajendra Talak said on Thursday said that Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Smriti Irani will attend the opening ceremony at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium at Bambolim.
Besides Khan, who will declare open the 48th edition of the IFFI, actors Shahid Kapoor and Katrina Kaif will also attend the annual event.
“We have confirmation that Shahid Kapoor and Katrina Kaif will be attending,” Mr. Talak said and added that more than 7,000 delegates had registered for IFFI.
The opening ceremony on November 20 will also include a cultural programme and will be followed by the screening of Beyond the Clouds , a film directed by Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi.
The Indo-Argentine film Thinking of Him by filmmaker Pablo Cesar will be the closing movie of IFFI 2017. The film, which revolves around the relationship of legendary poet and intellectual Rabindranath Tagore, played by Victor Banerjee, will be screened on November 28.
Bioscope Village
The ESG also unveiled plans for a Bioscope Village as part of the IFFI Next Gen side bar programme. The Bioscope Village is aimed at involving greater participation from the local audience.
“It is for the people to enjoy the various flavours of cinema and related skills alongside IFFI 2017 and will be inaugurated on November 22 by actor Shraddha Kapoor who will also be felicitated as the Youth Icon of #Next Gen Cinema 2017,” Mr. Talak said.
The Bioscope Village will have three airconditioned inflatable cinemas fitted with state of the art cinema projectors and will screen new and classic films aimed at both the young and older audiences.
Some of the titles being planned at the festival include Samit Kakad’s Aayna Ka Bayna and Half Ticket , Sachin Kundalkar’s Wazandaar , Indian Panaroma titles Kshitij – A Horizon, Natasamrat, Katyar Kaljat Ghusali, Ventilator, Moramba, Maza Bhirbhira, and Hindi films: M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, The Lunchbox, Amar Akbar Anthony, and Toilet Ek Prem Khata , besides childrens films like Ubuntu, Legend of Buddha, Bal Ganesh series, among others. All the children films will be screened on Saturday, November 25 and 26.
The IFFI organisers have also planned a talk session with artistes like Nana Patekar, Sachin Khedekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Dilip Phrabawalkar, Sushant Singh Rajput, and Sai Tamhankar.
