The 13th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne has just flagged off, and numerous Bollywood A-Listers have gathered at the venue to kickstart the event. After a two year physical hiatus, the film festival is back in its old avatar off the digital screens after the pandemic. The 8 day extravaganza officially launched today in presence of Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vaani Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia, Shefali Shah, singer Sona Mohapatra and filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Kabir Khan, Aparna Sen, Nikhil Advani and Shoojit Sircar.
The guests took the stage to announce this year’s schedule that is to raise curtains with Taapsee Pannu starrer Dobaaraa, helmed by Anurag Kashyap. This year’s gala event will also observe the 75th year of Indian independence alongside screening of over 120 films across different regional languages of the subcontinent, and panel discussions.
“It feels great to be finally here and I absolutely love the ambience this year. I am sure Dobaaraa is the perfect opener for an event like IFFM. I am looking forward to being a part of the celebrations. It feels extremely honouring to be given the Leadership in Cinema Award,” shares Abhishek.
“I think the entire regional versus Bollywood debate is only possible in a diverse country like India. Off the shores, people identify all of it with Indian cinema, and it is as similar as the case in IFFM, which is a celebration of Indian films,” concludes Tamannaah on the Bollywood vs South film debate.