4th Jagran Film Festival opens in Mumbai

The 4th Jagran Film Festival got underway, at Fun Republic Theater in Mumbai on 24th September 2013. Kick starting the proceedings for the evening was emcee Atul Tiwari (theater veteran & writer) with a rabble rousing speech where he extolled the multiple virtues of cinema. He also welcomed the esteemed guests from Israel and Palestine who had specially flown in for the screening of their movie 'Water'. The arrival of the surprise Chief guest Akshay Kumar only added to the audience's delight. Accompanying him was actress Nimrat Kaur, of the 'The Lunchbox' fame. Both dignitaries later lit the ceremonial lamp and thereby officially flagged off the 4th Jagran Film Festival. In her welcome speech, Nimrat thanked the audience for the love and grace they had showered on her movie 'The Lunchbox' and hoped that she would be able to deliver in the same vein in her future projects. It was then time for our action star Akshay Kumar to address the audience. The moment he walked towards the lectern, chants of Boss reverberated all around. An overwhelmed Akshay effusively thanked the audience for supporting him throughout his career and mentioned that without their love and warmth, he would have never made it big. Talking about Jagran Film Festival, Akshay said, “It’s a pleasure to be here today. A total of 99 films will be screened in four days during this festival. It's really great. I have attended many film festivals but a lot of international films will also be shown in this festival. I hope this festival continues forever and forever. The Jagran Festival which started in Delhi and travelled to 15 cities before making its final stop at Mumbai yesterday, will showcase films under seven different sections - World Panorama, Indian Showcase (In Competition), Jagran Shorts (International and National in Competition), Country Focus (South Korea), Homage to Rituparno Ghosh, Berlinale Shorts and last but not the least the Jagran Classics which will show the Top 20 films of Indian Cinema. The jury members for the Indian showcase include filmmaker Basu Chatterjee, actress-director Aditi Ninad Deshpande, film editor Suresh Pai and theatre veteran Feroz Abbas Khan. The closing ceremony of the festival will take place on 29 September when the winners of each category would be announced.