46th IFFI takes off at Goa with national and international celebrities

The 46th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) started off in Goa with a gala show held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium. Hon'ble Minister, I&B, Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley today inaugurated the film festival in the presence of Chief Guest Anil Kapoor along with Defence Minister, Shri Manohar Parrikar, Governor of Goa, Smt. Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Laxmikant Parsekar, Minister of State, I&B Shri Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Secretary, I&B, Shri Sunil Arora among other national and international dignitaries.

The opening ceremony was graced by various national and international actors and filmmakers like Shekhar Kapur, Michael Radford, Julia Jentsch, Suha Arraf, Jeon Kyu-Hwan, Sonakshi Sinha, Kabir Khan, Sudhir Mishra and the entire team of the opening film 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' including director Mathew L. Brown, actor Dev Patel, Devika Bhise and Toby Jones. The event was compered by actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Aditi Rao Hydari.

The amazingly energetic performances by Indian dancer and choreographer, Terence Lewis, specializing in contemporary dance and his troupe kept the audience spell-bound.

Addressing the ceremony, Shri Arun Jaitley said, “From romance to historical to social turmoil, cinema has provided many opportunities to feel every moment of life. IFFI is most awaited event of the year where the great film talents assemble at a single platform. Goa has been the perfect venue and there cannot be any perfect destination for a film festival.

The chief guest of the evening Mr. Anil Kapoor has a unique charisma that entertains millions of audience around the world. The Centenary Award winner Shri Ilaiyaraaja is an iconic figure in the music field and his work inspires the musicians all over the world. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Russian filmmaker and actor Nikita Mikhalkov.”

The Honourable I&B Minister also stated that as Indian cinema is marching ahead towards global glory, the festival is enhancing, enlarging, and enriching the film viewing experience of local as well as international audience. He felicitated the International Jury and conferred the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year to the ace music composer Shri Ilaiyaraaja.

The chief guest of the ceremony, Anil Kapoor said, “A film festival is great platform to promote film and reach out to large and diversified audience. IFFI is gaining huge popularity amongst the global audience with its selection of good films and different interactive sections. It is an honour to share the stage with the legendry Shri Ilaiyaraaja. He has been the music composer of my second film and I appreciate the film festival for bestowing him the Centenary Award.”