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Mahadevan, Banks fuse to raise curtains at 50th IFFI

Spotlight on two megastars - Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth

| NOVEMBER 21, 2019, 02:45 AM IST

the goan I network

PANAJI   

A ten piece musical ensemble brought together by the renowned Shankar Mahadevan on Wednesday took the stage at the opening ceremony of the International Film Festival of India’s (IFFI) fiftieth edition by storm with around six-seven outstanding fusion performances at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium at Bambolim.   

The ensemble included exponents of Indian and Western musical instruments, making it perhaps a first at IFFI where acts gave the opening ceremony a veritable international flavour. And, as host and film director Karan Johar described it: “India meets the world on one platform,” - a perfect commencement to the start of an international festival.   

Contrary to the ambiance and decor of the capital city on Wednesday which felt far from “host to an international film festival,” the musical ensemble’s performance was of truly international standard, and evoked a spontaneous standing ovation.   

Banks himself performed on the keyboards. The other star musicians performing as part of the line-up were Purbayan Chatterjee on the sitar, Bank’s son Gino Banks on the drums, Sheldon D’Silva on the bass guitar, Abhay Sharma on the saxophone, Ojas Adhiya on the tabla, Karthik Mani on the percussions and Sridhar Parthasarathy on the mridangam.   

Singer Caralisa Monteiro, whose voice is akin to that of Canadian singer Celine Dion, enthralled the audience with a jazz rendition of “My Favourite Things” from the 1965 Julie Andrews starrer “The Sound of Music.”   

The ensemble ended with the ensemble’s rendition of the bhajan Vaishnava Janato, to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation. Performed as a duet, Monteiro sang in four languages - English, Italian, German and Mandarin, while Mahadevan added the Hindi touch. Mahadevan explained that the performance was multilingual as the ensemble’s prayer for world peace. Following the performance, Johar said that the performance was a reminder that there was “no greater religion than humanity.”   

PTI adds: The golden jubilee edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019, got off to a dazzling start on Wednesday as megastar Amitabh Bachchan and superstar Rajinikanth came together for the inaugural ceremony, steeped in nostalgia, music and entertainment.   

The spotlight at the event was on the two cinema legends, who walked in to the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium here looking dapper in black bandhgalas.   

The duo last shared the IFFI stage at its 2014 edition.   

The ceremony began on an emotional note as host for the evening, filmmaker Karan Johar remembered former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who passed away on March 17, 2019. A short film, highlighting Parrikar’’s role in the development of the state and bringing IFFI to Goa in 2004, was screened.   

South star Rajinikanth was felicitated with the Special Icon of Golden Jubilee award presented to him by Bachchan, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, among others.   

The 69-year-old actor thanked his inspiration Bachchan after receiving the award and expressed his gratitude to his fans for their love over the years.   

The veteran actor, known as Thalaivar’’, has worked in over 150 films such as “Billa”, “Baasha”, and more recently the “Enthiran” series, “Kabali” and “Kaala”.   

At the ceremony, celebrated French actor Isabelle Huppert was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award.   

The 66-year-old actor, who received a standing ovation, said she was happy and honoured to be in India and wished a long life for IFFI. She will also be taking a masterclass titled The Actor’’s Connect during the festival on Thursday.   

Iconic British filmmaker Ken Loach, who will be honoured with a retrospective at the movie gala, couldn’’t attend the opening, but addressed the gathering through a video message.   

The 83-year-old director raised concerns over the rise of the political far-right and underlined the importance of working towards the harmony and sustainability of the planet.   

Javadekar, in his remarks at the event, said cinema is India’’s soft power and our films have transcended the language barrier in many countries like China.   

The minister said the single window clearance for shooting that is being introduced by the government will encourage filmmakers from across the globe to shoot films in India.   

As soon as Javadekar came to the stage and began his address, some people sitting in the balcony of the stadium started shouting slogans against the minister.   

The protesters were opposing the Centre’’s move to ‘’exempt’’ the Karnataka government from obtaining environment clearance (EC) for a project on Mahadayi river.   

 In his remarks, Goa CM Sawant said films are not only a source of entertainment but also a mirror of our times.   



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