Hansal Mehta's 'Aligarh' to premiere at Busan Film Festival

Mumbai: "Shahid" director Hansal Mehta's upcoming film "Aligarh", starring Manoj Bajpayee, will premiere at the 20th Busan International Film Festival.

"Aligarh" is based on the real life incident of Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who was terminated from his job because of his sexual-orientation.

Siras, who was the professor of Marathi at the Aligarh Muslim University, later committed suicide. Bajpayee is playing the role of Siras in this movie, and National Award-winning actor Rajkummar Rao plays a journalist in the film.

Hansal shared the news on the micro-blogging site Twitter. "#Aligarh to premier at Busan International Film Festival. Love you @Apurvasrani @BajpayeeManoj @RajkummarRao and our most fantastic team."

Rajkummar also expressed his happiness over the announcement. "Yayaya #Aligarh premiering at Busan film festival. Congratulations @mehtahansal @BajpayeeManoj @Apurvasrani @CastingChhabra @TheAngstyGujju."

The 10-day festival (October 1-10) will open with actor Vicky Kaushal's "Zubaan", which is co-produced by Guneet Monga ('The Lunchbox'). Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap will be a part of the jury for the New Currents competition in the Asian films section at the festival.

The five-member jury will be headed by Taiwanese actress-director Sylvia Chang. Other three jurors include South Korean film director Kim Tae-yong, German actress Nastassja Kinski, and film critic Stephanie Zacharek.

The festival will close with "Mountain Cry" by director Larry Yang.