SCO film festival begins in Mumbai; Akshay, Tiger Shroff attend event; Thakur talks about content

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said the lines have blurred between regional and international cinema as there are no boundaries for good content.He was speaking in Mumbai, which is hosting the first edition of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO Film Festival.Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, and Hema Malini attended the inaugural ceremony of the five-day festival, which kickstarted on Friday at NCPA in South Mumbai and will see screening of 58 movies from SCO member-countries.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said the lines have blurred between regional and international cinema as there are no boundaries for good content.

He was speaking in Mumbai, which is hosting the first edition of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Film Festival.

Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, and Hema Malini attended the inaugural ceremony of the five-day festival, which kickstarted on Friday at NCPA in South Mumbai and will see screening of 58 movies from SCO member-countries. Last year, India took over the rotating presidency of the SCO, a regional grouping of eight Eurasian nations. The festival has been organized to mark India's Presidency of SCO.

Launched in Shanghai in June 2001, the SCO has eight full members - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

Union Minister Thakur, in Mumbai to inaugurate the festival, said the lines have blurred between regional and international cinema and added there is a need for making good content that will make its presence felt globally.

"Somebody asked me about regional or how come it is an international thing here, nothing is regional today if the content has the power, it will go places, from regional to national to international.

Keep making good content, there are no boundaries for good content. This ('Appatha') is going to make great news at the box office and will be seen across the world," he told reporters before the screening of the Tamil film.

The minister said 2023 is an important year for the nation for two reasons: India is hosting the G20 Summit and has the SCO Presidency.

He said India has a strong relation with SCO countries and for the past many years Indian films have been widely appreciated and loved by the people in member-nations of the bloc.

"In one-year (these) big events are happening in India. And we have a lot of showcases, especially our rich cultural heritage, (and) we should only be proud of it. The world of cinema is incomplete without India and India is the largest filmmaking country and of late we are making right news, right noise at the international level," Thakur said.

The minister said the festival's aim is to build cinematic partnerships, have exchange programmes, nurture young filmmaking talent and act as a bridge between the cultures of this unique region.

The film festival is being organized by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) in association with the SCO Council of Heads of States.

Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Hema Malini and others were felicitated on the first day of the festival.

When Thakur asked Kumar if he was ready to act in international films, the 55-year-old actor said, "I believe in being aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) and will do Hindustani films.'' Shroff, on the other hand, said he is open to acting in international movies and believes that cinema has no language.

"Films transcends boundaries, it is a visual medium and creativity has no language. I am very happy to be here and be part of this event and celebrate Indian cinema and its growth, and of course world cinema and all the countries that have participated and showed their talent," said the 'Heropanti' actor.

According to Hema Malini, film festivals play a huge role in the rising popularity of an actor outside of India.

"Through the festival a lot can happen. Like, (for) SCO film festival, there is participation from Russia, China, Uzbekistan and other (countries), it is a good thing and the result will be good. Long ago, I acted in an Indo-Russian collaboration film, 'Alibaba Aur 40 Chor' and because of that many people know me (in that country)," the veteran star said.

The actor-politician hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has been doing wonderful work globally for the nation.

"Globally we are leading G20, Modi ji is doing such wonderful work, and with this, the film industrywill get a boost as well," she added.

Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, Maharashtra Minister for Tourism, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Additional Secretary (Films), I&B Ministry, Neerja Shekhar and Festival Director and MD of NFDC Prithul Kumar attended the opening ceremony.

Actors such as Kirti Kulhari, Esha Gupta, Hrishita Bhatt, and Jackky Bhagnani, Poonam Dhillon, Eli Avram, filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala, too marked their presence at the festival. The festival opened with a world premiere of Tamil movie "Appatha", directed by filmmaker Priyadarshan. Jio Studios and Wide Angle Creations are co-producers of the movie, which features National Award-winning actor Urvashi in the lead role. The movie is benchmarked as her 700th film.

The movie marks the second collaboration between Priyadarshan and Urvashi after 28 years, post the film "Midhunam" (1993).

"I don't claim how good or bad a film (it) is, how much you (will) enjoy this because appreciation is subjective when it comes to movies. I am just asking you to watch it according to your taste in filmmaking. It is a parallel film," the director said.

The first edition of the SCO Film Festival in India will screen 58 films from 14 countries in both competition and non-competition categories. Marathi film "Godavari", directed by Nikhil Mahajan, and India's official entry to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language category, "Chhello Show", a Gujarati film, will be screened in the competition section.

Shoojit Sircar's "Sardar Udham", SS Rajamouli's period film "RRR" (country-focus), Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Gangubai Kathiawadi" (Director Focus), Mridul Toolsidas's "Toolsidas Junior" (Children Focus) and Chetan Bhakuni's short-film "Jugalbandi" will also be showcased.

Five Indian restored classics, including "Shatranj ke Khiladi", (Hindi), "Subarnrekha" (Bengali), "Chandralekha" (Tamil), "Iru Kodgul" (Tamil) and "Chidambaram" (Malayalam), will also be screened in the festival.

The competition section is for SCO member-states and comprises various awards. The non-competition section is for all SCO countries - that is member-states, observer nations and dialogue partners states.

A total of 14 films have been nominated for the competition section.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)