11th Pune International Film Festival felicitates veteran Bollywood stars

Pune: The 11th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF), which commenced here on Thursday, felicitated veteran Bollywood actors for their valuable contribution to the film industry. Actors Jeetendra Kapoor and Ramesh Deo were given lifetime achievement awards. Jeetendra said: “I have spent so many years in the film industry with your love and affection.” Well-known film personalities, including actors Mohan Agashe, Mukta Barve, director and producer Subhash Ghai, sound designer Resul Pookutty and Jabbar Patel, director of PIFF attended the festival. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Javadekar, Maharashtra’s Minister for Cultural Affairs Sanjay Deotale and Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam were also present at the event. The organisers also felicitated Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Indian classical instrumentalist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia with the S D Burman Sound of Music award. Pandit Sharma said: “We were very fortunate that legendary filmmaker late Yash Chopraji thought about us when he was making such a multi star cast film ``Silsila``. He offered us to compose the music for that film, and there was a buzz in the film industry as to what has happened to Yash Chopra. Something has gone wrong with him. But Yashji knew, he had faith in us. May God bless his soul.” During the festival, around seven Marathi films will contest for the Maharashtra Government``s ``Sant Tukaram`` Trophy, while 13 films will compete in the world cinema category. The festival has a line-up of 80 contemporary films from more than 50 countries, which will be screened including feature films by renowned Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, French director Claude Chabrol as well as films of Indian actor Smita Patil. The cinematic extravaganza would conclude on January 17 and will host a special event segment to mark the centenary year of Indian cinema. ANI