PANJIM: It could not get bigger than this. The 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) got off to a glittering start with the Big B and Rajini embracing on stage and the latter twice touching the feet of the former as a packed house applauded the superstars of Indian cinema.
There was lots to cheer about. If the evening’s highlight was chief guest Amitabh Bachchan presenting the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year to Rajinikanth at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee indoor stadium, then Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s welcome address in his “Goan style” Hindi, also drew loud applause. “Goa is beautiful and I still don’t feel like going back to Delhi,” Parrikar said, and announced that Goa will have a permanent venue and auditorium at Dona Paula by next IFFI.
Addressing the gathering of 5,000, Bachchan, who owns a house in Goa, spoke a phrase in Konkani and said, “Mhaka Goem Borem lagta” (I love Goa). The actor said he has a very special relationship with Goa, starting from the time his first movie ‘Saat Hindustani’, was shot. The movie, released in 1969, was based on seven Indians who attempted to liberate Goa from the Portuguese colonial rule, he said.
“My connection with Goa is indeed very special,” he said and praised the tiny state for its tremendous power of unity in diversity and for its communal harmony. Bachchan’s words drew applause from the audience.
In his 30-minute speech, Bachchan reflected on the evolution of Indian cinema and said that films were a popular platform to reflect social concerns.
Rajinikanth, dedicated his Centenary Award to his film producers, technicians and fans. “I have no words to say,” he said thanking the film industry.
Actors Raveena Tandon and Anupam Kher, hosted the ceremony that had Union Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Governor Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, actor Pawan Kalyan, Ragini Dwivedi, Chinese actors Zhang Ziyi and Tong Zhang, among others.
Jaitley said there could not have been a better venue than Goa for IFFI. “Goa has the capability to develop the best infrastructure for the festival and I would say that we anxiously wait for that best IFFI to come in,” he said. Jaitley said that cricket may be termed as a religion in India but cinema is an alternative religion, with India producing over a thousand films a year.
IFFI, India’s biggest state-backed film festival organized by the Directorate of Film Festival (DFF) and Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), opened with a documentary featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream campaign ‘Swachcha Bharat’. The film festival has an impressive line-up of over 170 films from 78 countries that will be screened over the next ten days.
A cultural programme, with renowned Bharat Natyam dancer Shobana Pillai paying tribute to some of the legendary dancers including Vyjayanthimala, Waheeda Rehman, Kamal Hassan, Sitara Devi, Padmini and Hema Malini was held.
Honoured
International jury members Slawomir Idziak from Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi, Bandit Queen actress Seema Biswas, New York-based writer Marie Brenner and Nadia Dresti, the head of International Locarno Film Festival were honoured.
Highlights
u Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s 10-minute speech, started in Hindi – and after a fumble veered towards Konkani, and ended in English, with Parrikar admitting that he was “trying to learn better Hindi”
u Information Minister Milind Naik and ESG vice chairman Damodar Naik were not invited to the dais for the ceremony
u Director of Film Festival Shankar Mohan was not called on the dais to light the lamp that marked the opening of the festival
