Amitabh Bachchan likely to be the chief guest for 45th IFFI in Goa 2014

Amitabh Bachchan likely to be the chief guest for 45th IFFI in Goa

Indian cinema legend AmitabhBachchan is likely to be the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the 45th Indian film festival of India (IFFI) scheduled to be held in Goa from November 20 to 30.

Briefing the media on Saturday, Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar said that Amitabh Bachchan's name is on top of the list of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), the Goa government's nodal agency for IFFI. Goa has been hosting the IFFI from 2003 and has been declared a permanent venue for the IFFI.

Parrikar however said that Bachchan's name as chief guest for the IFFI inaugural has to be approved by the directorate of film festivals, government of India and only then would the ESG formally request Bachchan to be the chief guest.

Incidentally Parrikar was the chief minister of Goa when the state hosted IFFI for the first time in Goa in 2003. He is credited with creating some of the crucial infrastructure for the film festival including the Inox in Panaji.

Stating that the government is making profits from the Inox, he said his government will now draw up plans to boosting more film infrastructure since Goa has been declared the IFFI's permanent venue in India. For example, the government will earmark funds to improve the acoustics at the newly-built Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium on the Taleigao plateau. The stadium will then be utilized for IFFI-related programmes.