The opening night of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival was attended by stars from the Hindi and South Indian film industry, including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sonam Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar, as well as Tamil star Kamal Haasan, who won the Excellence in Cinema Award have (South Asia). Director and producer Mani Ratnam.
The two leading lights of South Indian cinema also announced their first collaboration in 36 years – KH234 – produced by Haasan’s Raaj Kamal Films International and Ratman’s Madras Talkies.
“We are producing the film together. He is the director and I am ready to do any job, including that of the lead actor,” Haasan joked after handing over the award to Ratman. “I’ll keep that in mind,” Ratnam replied.
Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman and cinematographer Ravi K Chandran are also associated with the film. Haasan and Ratnam last worked together in a gangster drama Nayakan in 1987. A preview of their new co-production will be released on November 6.
Meanwhile, Chopra Jonas, also chairman of the Mumbai Film Festival, presented the Excellence in Cinema Award (International) to Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, who, like Ratnam, will be giving a masterclass at the festival.
The ceremony was held at the 2,000-seat Grand Theater in the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center (NMACC), marking the long-awaited return of an event that was forced to take place online during the pandemic and almost went down forever. The festival’s organizing committee, Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), announced in February that it would return as an in-person event with support from Reliance Jio.
In her opening speech, Chopra Jonas emphasized the festival’s role in supporting new talent and promoting female filmmakers. “We want to recognize the crucial role of women in front of and behind the camera. We have some of the most amazing women, some of them here tonight, whose contributions to film are second to none,” Jonas said.
Other stars who attended the opening included Kareena Kapoor, who stars in the opening film The Buckingham Murders, directed by Hansal Mehta; Jim Sarbh, who recently received an Emmy nomination for Rocket boys; Aditi Rao Hydari, Siddharth, Vijay Varma and Rasika Dugal. Also present was Mira Nair, chairman of the jury for the South Asia competition, as well as co-judges David Michod, Isabel Sandoval and Edouard Waintrop.
The ceremony also honored three doyennes of Indian cinema who each received a lifetime achievement award: Aruna Vasudev, Nasreen Munni Kabir and Uma da Cunha, with the awards presented by Marco Mueller, Karan Johar and Adoor Gopalakrishnan respectively. All three have contributed significantly to bringing Indian cinema to an international audience through journalism, criticism, subtitling, distribution, programming and archiving.
At the ceremony, Sonam Kapoor also presented the award for Best Film Book to Prakash Magdum’s The Mahatma on Celluloid: A Cinematic Biography. Bhumi Pednekar presented the Dimensions Mumbai Short Film Awards to Praveen Giri Nightingales in cocoons and that of Kumar Chheda Half way through. Vidhu Vinod Chopra stepped in and presented Sanjib Gogol’s Best Film in the Royal Stag Competition for Major Short Films Summer of the soulwhile Made in heaven Star Sobhita Dhuliapala presented the Best Actor award to James Elia Vakupu (The clause).
The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival will screen more than 250 films over a period of 10 days between October 27 and November 5.
Source: Deadline
Elizabeth Cabrera is an author and journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest news and trends, Elizabeth is dedicated to delivering informative and engaging articles that keep readers informed on the latest developments.
