IFFM to open with Amitabh Bachchan starrer `Sholay 3D`

Melbourne: The 3D version of Amitabh Bachchan starrer 1975 hit `Sholay` will open the 11-day-long Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) here.Bachchan, 71, who would receive the screen icon award for his contribution to the world of cinema at the festival, is likely to attend the screening of the opening film too.

The tickets of `Sholay 3D` were sold out within 48 hours of going on sale. The festival, starting today, is packed with gala opening and closing events with some big Bollywood names like Bachchan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Malaika Arora, Kangana Ranaut and Konkana Sen Sharma likely to attend. Showcasing over 40 movies at four venues, director of the festival Mitu Bhowmick Lange has described the festival as the southern hemisphere`s greatest annual celebration of Indian cinema.Lange this year announced that the inaugural IFFM Awards which have been incepted to honour films in five categories - Best Film, Best Performance, Best Director, Best Independent Film and the People`s Choice Award. "This will be the first Indian cinema awards of its kind in Australia," Lange said. The jury members consist of the prominent Indian and Australian film industry figures from a wide range of backgrounds including Australian director Phillip Noyce, Australian film editor Jill Bilcock and Indian film maker Rajkumar Hirani, Simi Garewal, Rajeev Masand and Suhasini Maniratnam. Competing in the best director category were Anand Gandhi`s `Ship of Theseus`, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra`s `Bhaag Milkha Bhaag`, Anup Singh`s `Qissa` and Ritesh Batra`s `The Lunchbox`. Nominees for best actor category are Farhan Akhtar (Bhaag Milkh Bhaag), Irfan Khan (The Lunchbox) and Raj Kumar Yadav (Shahid) while the best actress nominees are Deepika Padukone (Ram-leela), Kangana Ranaut (Queen), Nimrat Kaur (The Lunchbox) and Sonakshi Sinha (Lootera). In the best film section, the nominees are `Bhaag Milkha Bhaag`, `Ram-leela` and `Lootera`. The festival will also honour the best indie film for which the jury has nominated three films -`Filmistaan`, `The Lunchbox` and `Ship of Theseus`. As a part of the festival, films under several sections including `Beyond Bollywood` would be rolled out comprising 15 Ausrtalian premieres of regional movies. Leading this year list are - Jahnu Bahru`s `Ajeyo`, Marathi film `Anumati`, Bengali film `Apur Panchali` and Hindi off-beat films including `B A Pass`, `Filmistan`, `Jal`, `Lakshmi` and `Shahid`. The festival has also merged movies from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and two Pakistani movies.