Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan to grace the opening ceremony of Kolkata International Film Festival
The 20th edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival will commence from November 10 to 17 and it’s one of the oldest film festivals of the nation. The two big personas will be seen gracing the opening ceremony of this event and they are the megastars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. With the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee promoting the festival, the event will be a star-studded one as it’s going to be attended by South superstar Kamal Haasan as well as the noted filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. The veteran actress Tanuja, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan will also be a part of inaugural ceremony of the festival. Big B and SRK have a special bond with Bengal. Bachchan has sung some Bengali tracks and Shah Rukh owns the cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders of the IPL.
Around 143 movies from 53 nations under 16 diverse categories will be screened at the Kolkata International Film Festival that also includes 13 flicks from UK. Under the category ‘Unheard India: Rare Indian Languages’, this film festival will highlight some unique Indian languages such as Konkani, Maithili, Monpa, Dogri, Khasi, Kodava and Chakma. The films of eminent personalities like Michael Winterbottom, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and many more names from the world cinema will be screened at this event. This film festival will pay homage to late legendary actors like Om Puri, Tom Alter and the cinematographer Ramananda Sengupta.
The 8 day extravaganza will take place at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. There will not be private sponsorship this year. The jury will be comprised of the Indian filmmaker Amol Palekar, the Iranian director Nikki Karimi, Australian filmmaker Paul Cox and others. Italian film ‘Italo Barocco’ by Alessia Scarco is the inaugural film chosen at the event.
The award ceremony will conclude the festival and the actress Rani Mukerji and the filmmaker Farah Khan will make their presence felt at the occasion.
