The International Film Festival of India began on Sunday with high energy at the Party Capital of India -- Goa. The film festival’s opening ceremony included celebrating the journey of women in Indian cinema from the '50s to the present day.
The performance -- Ode to a Woman -- was choreographed by famous Bollywood choreographer Ganesh Acharya. Among the women who graced the occasion with their presence were Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha from the political fraternity and Divya Dutta from Indian cinema. Suhasini Maniratnam and Surveen Chawla hosted the event.
The opening ceremony began with the ceremonial lamp-lighting by the Chief Guest, Ramesh Sippy of Sholay fame and actor Sushant Singh Rajput along with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Chief Minister of Goa Laxmikant Parsekar. The prestigious film festival brings movies from around the world along with cinema-related workshops.
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“I am honoured to welcome everyone. We have come a long way since 2004 and even the years before that. The year 2004 marked a milestone for Goans as it was declared the venue for the first time. In 2014, it was declared by the government as the permanent venue for IFFI,” Parsekar said, as reported by The Hindu.
The International guest list was led by filmmaker of famous Korean films “Wife”, “The Family Pedigree”, “Evergreen” and Chunhyang”, “Ghiwaseon” and “Low Life” Im Kwon Taek, who was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The ‘Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year-2016’ was conferred to SP Balasubrahmanyam. He has sung over 40,000 songs during the course of his career -- Ye Hasi Vaadiya, Mere rang main rang ne waali and Roja, to name a few.
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