Madhur Bhandarkar, Hrishitaa Bhatt, more B-town celebs inaugurate Celebrating India Film Festival in Delhi

New Delhi [India], August 8 : The Celebrating India Film Festival (CIFF) was inaugurated by National Award-winning director Madhur Bhandarkar, actress Hrishitaa Bhatt, RS Prasanna, Cabinet Minister Kapil Mishra and former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in Delhi on Friday.

CIFF is a three-day film festival dedicated to Indian cinema and the stories that shape our identity. The film festival will witness the screening of documentaries, feature films and short stories.

As per the website of CIFF, the film festival will feature movies under compelling themes such as environment & wildlife, tourism & heritage, art, culture & spirituality, rooted in Indian values.

The 'Shararat' actress Hrishitaa Bhatt reflected on the significance of the film festivals for the growth of cinema in India. While talking to ANI, Bhatt said, "This festival is always about celebrating cinema, and I think when you start taking these kinds of initiatives (CIFF), it's a win-win situation. Cinema is the best medium because you keep a camera and shoot a story, and it reaches a million people the world over."

For the actress, the film festivals are also a medium to showcase the culture of the country to the world and vice versa.

"The idea is, when you start talking cinema through festivals, you start also showcasing your country to the world and vice versa. I think there could be nothing better than doing that," she further said.

As for National Award-winning director Madhur Bhandarkar, the filmmaker believes that film festivals like CIFF are important for the "society", cinemaphiles, and the "audience" who want to see good cinema.

While talking to ANI, Madhur Bhandarkar said, "Now, there has been a change. For the last 5-6 years, we have seen a huge upsurge of OTT in the market. People are watching different kinds of content. YouTube has also become very active. So, I think such a festival, such a short film, is very good. And I feel that's a great initiative. I would like to congratulate them for taking such an initiative. Such a festival is very important for society, for film lovers, and for the audience who want to see good cinema."

'Sitaare Zameen Par' director RS Prasanna also attended the first day of the Celebrating Indian Film Festival (CIFF). The director believes that there should be more such festivals in India, as the nation is full of individuals with "filmmaking talent".

While talking to ANI, Prasanna said, "I feel there should be more and more and more festivals, and we have to celebrate films in every street corner. And I feel that all of us in India have got filmmaking talent, all of us."

He continued, "Our audience is so aware of film craft, they talk about editing, they talk about music, they criticise the performance. I think our country is filled with so many stories, and with so many storytellers available, we should have film festivals on every street. More and more film festivals should come out, so we can have a lot more creativity and storytelling."

As for the difference between commercial and art films, which are usually shown at movie festivals, the director says that with time, the difference between the two styles of films has decreased.

"I think the difference between a festival and a commercial is that it's not very strict nowadays because in the past, so-called commercial and so-called mainstream cinema used to be very different from art films," said Prasanna.

He continued, "But nowadays, if you see, a lot of mainstream cinema is taking subjects and treatment from the so-called art world, right? So I think both, I love both. And I think the tag of a film festival is that it's very boring. So we have to change that tag. We have to slowly introduce our audiences to film festival films, which are also very entertaining."

Actor Hemant Pandey, who is mainly known for his comedy stints in movies, sees film festivals as a "medium" for the artists and technicians to increase their understanding of the arts and gain new skills.

The actor called the film festivals a reflection of society's development.

While talking to ANI, Pandey said, "Film festivals are a medium to go one level up for our artists and technicians. You get to see their writing, direction, camera, light, you get to see everything in depth. Our film festivals are a medium to learn from anyone, whether it's a newbie or an oldie. So it's a good thing that there is such a medium in Delhi. You can say that the festivals give you an idea of how the society is developing."

The ongoing film festival will conclude on August 10. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta will attend the event on the last day of the film festival.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor