Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth open IFFI 2014 in Goa

 Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth open IFFI 2014 in Goa

India's biggest state-backed film festival, the 45th International Film Festival of India 2014, opened in Goa on Thursday with an impressive line-up of over 170 films that will be screened over the next ten days. Two of the biggest stars of the Indian film industry, Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth, came together for the opening ceremony at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee indoor stadium on the outskirts of the state capital Panaji.

While Bachchan was the chief guest for the ceremony, Rajinikanth will be honoured with the Centenary Award for the Film Personality of the Year.

The festival opens with Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf's The President, and will close with The Grandmaster by Wong Kar-wai. The Hong Kong-based director will also receive the lifetime achievement award on the last day of the extravaganza.

The 11-day festival will also screen 179 films from 75 countries across different categories which include World Cinema (61 films), Masterstrokes (11 films), Festival Kaleidoscope (20 films), Soul of Asia (7 films), Documentaries (6 films), and Animated Films (6 films). (With inputs from IANS) -

Amitabh Bachchan invited to inaugurate IFFI 2014

Goa government, which is co-hosting the festival, had urged the DFF to invite the megastar to inaugurate IFFI this time.

 Amitabh Bachchan invited to inaugurate IFFI 2014

The Directorate of Film Festival here has invited megastar Amitabh Bachchan to inaugurate the upcoming edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to be held in Goa from next month.

“Formal invitation at highest level has gone to Amitabh Bachchan requesting him to inaugurate the event,” director of film festival Shankar Mohan told PTI today.

The DFF is officially awaiting a written confirmation from him. But at the policy level he is finalised to inaugurate the event, Mohan said. Goa government, which is co-hosting the festival, had urged the DFF to invite the megastar to inaugurate IFFI this time. Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), which is the nodal agency for hosting the festival, had requested the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry to extend the invitation to Bachchan.

The upcoming edition of IFFI would be held from November 20 to 30. The state government has already announced that the inauguration ceremony of the festival would be held at Dr Shama Prasad Mukherjee stadium near Panaji. 

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