Kolkata: Veteran Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan will open the Kolkata International Film Festival 2022 on Thursday. The inaugural ceremony of the eight-day-long fest is to be presided over by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, NDTV reported.
West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose will be the chief guest at the event.
It is to be attended by many others of Bollywood, such as Shah Rukh Khan, Mahesh Bhat, Jaya Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee, Kumar Sanu and Arijit Singh. Shatrughan Sinha, the Trinamool Congress MP, will also be there at the opening event.
Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra is to deliver the Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture.
Paying tribute to the legendary filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee on his birth centenary, the opening movie will be his "Abhimaan". The central characters in the movie were donned by Amitabh Bachchan and his wife, Jaya Bachchan.
Kolkata witnessed posters and branding of the film festival once the fest was announced. These include catching hoardings which celebrate the best moments of world and Indian cinema, announcing the KIFF's theme Bishwa Meley Chhobir Melay (Meet the World at the World of Cinema).
The promotional posters are viral on social media. These include Uttam Kumar from Nayak, Apu from Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, Forrest Gump from Tom Hank's Academy Award-winning movie of the same name, Soumitra Chatterjee as 'Feluda', Charlie Chaplin etc.
The Kolkata International Film Festival will be held from today till the 22nd of December. Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra will deliver the Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture.
According to the KFFK fest's website, the event started in 1995, drawing inspiration from lm legends in Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and many more stalwarts of Bengal Cinema.
Since the event was more confined to the learnt fraternity, CM Mamata took the initiative to push its reach to the masses in 2011. Organisers promise that this edition of the event has more to offer movie lovers.