- The opening of the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) at Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium.
- This year’s KIFF will not be seeing Shah Rukh Khan, who has always attended.
- Anil Kapoor gave Kolkata and Bengali films greatness, emphasizing the city’s enduring influence on the film industry.
Stars from Bollywood including Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Sourav Ganguly, Mahesh Bhatt, and Shatrughan Sinha attended the opening of the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata.
This year’s KIFF will not be seeing Shah Rukh Khan, who has always attended. As West Bengal’s brand ambassador, Sourav Ganguly has taken his place instead.
Kolkata International Film Festival
219 films from 39 countries, including 72 features and 50 shorts and documentaries, will be screened at 23 locations in Kolkata as part of the festival. Thirteen films vying for Golden Royal Bengal Trophies in the Best Film and Best Director categories—with prize money of Rs. 51 lakh and Rs. 21 lakh, respectively—will compete in the International Competition (Innovation in Moving Images).
Actors Manoj Bajpayee and Sudhir Mishra will conduct a masterclass on acting and directing on December 9, and Laurence Kardish will give the prestigious Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture.
The 29th edition of the KIFF was opened by Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who poked fun at Mahesh Bhatt, Anil Kapoor, and Shatrughan Sinha for allegedly stealing every line he had planned to include in his speech.
Anil Kapoor gave Kolkata and Bengali films greatness, emphasizing the city’s enduring influence on the film industry. Mahesh Bhatt asked elders in the film industry to be receptive to what the younger generation has to teach them.
At the opening ceremony, Sonakshi Sinha expressed gratitude to West Bengal for providing her with the role of Pakhi Roy Chaudhary in Vikramaditya Motwane’s Lootera. Shatrughan Sinha paid tribute to the late Bengali actor and director Samit Bhanja, with whom he collaborated on the movie Jaban.
Sourav Ganguly, a former cricket player and president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), expressed gratitude to all of the organizers, especially Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, for inviting him.
