Manoj Kumar Inaugurates Indian Panorama at 44th IFFI

Veteran film actor and director, Manoj Kumar inaugurated the Indian Panorama Section here today at the ongoing 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in the presence of Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Shri Manish Tewari, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Shri Bimal Julka and film personalities like Prem Chopra, Subhash Ghai and Manoj Bajpai. Speaking on the occasion Manoj Kumar remembered nostalgic days of films and film making. He suggested that Ministry should institute an award of such stature that even Hollywood vie to deserve it. 

Addressing the august gathering, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Shri Manish Tewari said that the Ministry would look forward to add a special segment on political cinema next year. The Minister further said that the ‘film industry in India has attained such an enviable stature inspites and despites of the Government’. He pointed out, what is needed most today is not only the historical document of the journey of Indian cinema but also a biopic with such finesse which may generate a revenue model of its own. The Indian Cinema has left a very significant impact on the very mindset of cinema lovers, he added. 

The segment contains 26 feature films and 16 non-feature films. The feature films jury, headed by renowned film-maker and editor, B. Lenin selected ‘Kanyaka Talkies’ by K. R. Manoj as the opening film of the Panorama. The other films include 101 chodyangal’ by Sidhartha Siva, ‘Ajana Batas’ by Anjan Das and ‘Fandry’ by Nagraj Manjule. The non-feature films jury was chaired by esteemed director, Raja Sen. The films in this category include ’Makara’ by Prantik Narayan Basu, ‘Behind the Mist’ by Babu Kambrath and ‘Shephards of Paradise’ by Raja Shabir Khan. ‘Rangabhoomi’ by Kamal Swaroop is the opening film of this section.