6th Jagran Film Festival gets a star-studded start in Mumbai

Sudhir Mishra and Aanand L Rai

Mumbai rolled out a red carpet to the country's biggest travelling film extravaganza, the Jagran Film Festival in its sixth edition. On Day 1, the buzz at Fun Cinemas, Andheri auditorium was infectious as the film lovers from in and around Mumbai gathered to witness the opening ceremony where the chief guest, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra lit the lamp.

Sudhir Mishra and Aanand L Rai

Emmanuelle Bercot's film Standing Tall drew celebrities and cinephiles alike to witness the screening. This French drama, chronicles the life of an at-risk adolescent dabbling with violence, punishment and the idea of rehabilitation. The screening turned into a star-studded evening in the presence of celebrities such as R Madhavan, Ranvir Shorey, Kunal Kapoor, Dibakar Banerjee among others.

Ranvir Shorey, Dibakar Banerjee and Kunal Kapoor (centre)

On the very first day, JFF also showcased some offbeat shades of Arabic cinema with films such as an Israeli-Palestinian Joint Venture Sport and a series of recent short films including Matan Gur's Jisr Boys, Lily Sheffy Rize's Just a Man, Tal Oved's Ziva and Amal and Ahmad Barghouthi's Blue Eagles and WOUROD.

Kunal Kapoor

Hindi film lovers grabbed the opportunity to walk down memory lane with Hiren Nag's 1984 romantic classic Abodh, Phani Majumdar's 1962 romantic drama Aarti, Govind Mooni's 1982 family love triangle Nadiya Ke Paar, K Balachander's epic love story of the 1980s Ek Duuje Ke Liye and Mahesh Bhatt's 1991 romantic thriller Sadak, that paid a homage to the late actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar.

R Madhavan

Film enthusiasts were seen juggling between the big screens and auditoriums to catch the cinema of their choice. In days to come, the much-anticipated Mumbai edition is studded with a noteworthy collection of Jagran Shorts, Hindi classics, World premieres as well as a handpicked selection of International cinema. And since this time round the edition is bigger than ever. Attendees can enjoy master classes and workshops on screen writing, reviewing cinema and animation along with panel discussions on casting, film direction, making advertising films, editing adding to the charm.