Paying tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema, the 19th edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) was today kicked off in vintage musical style by superstars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Kamal Haasan.
Thousands of film lovers gathered to attend the glittering ceremony at the Netaji Indoor Stadium where they were left mesmerised by the presence of Amitabh Bachchan, his actor-wife Jaya, actors Shah Rukh Khan and superstar of South Indian films, Kamal Haasan.
The evening started off with a colourful dance titled 'Parampara' by Sukalyann D Entourage celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema. The charm and appeal of Indian cinema was expressed through classic songs like 'Piya milan ko jaana', 'Yaari hai imaan mera', 'Chin chin chu' and 'Kabhi alvida na kehna' as the audience went down memory lane.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was seated in between Bachchan and Shah Rukh on the dais.
Among others, Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore, directors Madhur Bhandarkar and Shoojit Sarkar, National Award-winning Malayali filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, would also be present at the later stages of the festival.
Late filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh's unreleased film 'Taak Jhaank' (Sunglass) will be screened for the first time as the inaugural film for which a giant screen will be put up at the indoor stadium.
To pay tribute to the director who passed away in May, eight of his films including 'Unishe April', 'Dahan', 'The Last Lear' and 'Chitrangada' would be screened at the KIFF.
In 13 venues including the Nandan-Rabindra Sadan complex, Inox City Centre 1 and Star Theatre, altogether 189 films would be shown in the eight-day-long film carnival.
Adding an international touch to KIFF would be 24 delegates from abroad led by Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai who will also hold a masterclass for film students.
The focus this year would be on Southeast Asian films.
A new addition to this year's KIFF is the section 'Shades of Black and White' where contemporary black and white films would be shown.
A retrospective of Adoor Gopalakrishnan starting with Kodiyettam from the seventies to the 2008 film 'Oru Pennum Randaanum' would be shown.
