Team Herald
PANJIM: The 55th edition of the International Film Festival of India kicked off with lights, cameras and a lot of on-stage action at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium on Wednesday evening. The inauguration ceremony was high on star power, both on and off the stage, as Bollywood celebrities mingled with the festival jury and special guests at this celebration of cinema.
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However, it was festival director Shekhar Kapur, who put things into perspective with his inaugural address in which he spoke about the power of stories in a world divided by strife. “The only way we talk to each other is by telling each other our stories. Stories is how we relate, stories is how we perceive each other and that’s what has to go on,” he said.
Among senior politicians, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Bihar deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha attended the inauguration. The CM spoke about how the festival had given Goa a global platform and created the infrastructure to host directors, actors and actresses from India and the rest of the world.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw addressed the gathering via video, in which he spoke about an ecosystem that would look at developing the content creator economy in India to showcase the country’s heritage, culture, languages and literature.
The show was hosted by actors Bhumi Pednekar and Abhishek Banerjee. It was revealed that the festival had received 1032 entries for the section focusing on young filmmakers. The number of final entries have been trimmed down to 100.
Actor Boman Irani paid homage to the four doyens of Indian cinema being celebrated at this edition of the festival – Mohammed Rafi, Raj kapoor, Tapan Sinha and Akkineni Nageshwara Rao. A postage stamp commemorating the four was released by the Chief Minister, Shekhar Kapur, Nagarjuna and his wife Amala. Nagarjuna said his father Nageshwara Rao had taught him about the importance of living a good life.
The show was interspersed with dance performances by Bollywood stars like Ishan Khatter and Manushi Chillar.
