Akshay Kumar to inaugurate film festival

Akshay Kumar will kick off the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) at a football ground in Panaji later this month.

Panaji: Bollywood star Akshay Kumar will kick off the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) at a football ground in the capital later this month, organisers said, adding that over 70 films would be premiered at the 10-day event.

"Akshay Kumar will be inaugurating the IFFI at the football stadium in Panaji. Over 7,500 delegates and 400 members from the media have already registered for the festival," director of the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) Shankar Mohan said. He added that two Indian regional language films were vying with 15 other films in the competition section. Mohan said Punjabi film "Anhey Ghode da daan" and Bengali film "Elar Char Adhyay" would be competing with other global films in the competition section. "Tabu and Irrfan Khan, among other cast of the opening film `Life of Pi`, would also be attending the inauguration ceremony," Mohan said. He added that in the centenary of the Indian film section, over 27 films and 56 documentaries from black and white to colour and silent films have been selected for screening. The 10-day festival will start in Goa from Nov 20. IANS