Hema Malini to inaugurate Jaipur International Film Fest on 30 Jan

Veteran actress Hema Malini will inaugurate the ensuing Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) that is scheduled to go underway on 30 January (2013). In this five day celebration of films that will have its curtains down on 3 February, the selected films will be screened on 11 screens at 8 different places in the city. This year, Padma Vibhushan Sharmila Tagore will be accorded with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Seminars and workshops will also be conducted by famous cine personalities including Prem Chopra, Raveena Tandon, Diya Mirza, Sri Lankan actress Neeta Fernando, Anand Patwardhan, Arun Dutt (son of late Guru Dutt) and directors Pratim Dasgupta, Bijoy Jena, Biju Mohan and Sudipto Chattopadhyay. Said JIFF director Hanu Roj that Life Goes On will be the opening attraction this year. “The film is a story about a modern Indian Bengali Doctor’s family, set in today’s London.” The film is all about how Sanjay, the pivotal character of the film, rediscovers the lives of his daughters after the sudden death of his wife, Manju. He faces new challenges and crisis with modern lives of his daughters, especially with the youngest daughter, Dia who is in love with a Muslim boy. This declaration of his daughter made him to recollect his childhood and trauma of the Hindu-Muslim riots during the partition of Bengal. The film stars Sharmila Tagore and Om Puri among others. The JIFF will also see the screenings of Swara from Sri Lanka, Kannada film Almira and Sudipto Chattopadhyay – directed film Shobhna’s Seven Nights that has Raveena Tandon in the lead. A special honour will be the Hollywood film The Wind Cannot Read (1958) that was the first Hollywood film shot in Rajasthan. The film was based on the 1942 Burma war. Apart from this, some of our classics such as Mughal-e-Azam,Kagaz ke Phool, Daag and Saaransh will also be screened.