The festival is taking place ahead of the beginning of the construction on the ambitious Film City at Yamuna Expressway Development Authority in January
Our Bureau
Varanasi (UP)
The first edition of the three-day Kashi Indian International Film Festival began in here on Monday (December 27). UP State tourism & culture affairs minister Neelkanth Tiwari inaugurated the festival at a grand event in the presence of Bollywood celebrities like actor Anupam Kher, filmmaker Rahul Mittra, President of Indian Film & Television Directors Association Ashoke Pandit, directors Satish Kaushik, Madhur Bhandarkar, MP & actor Ravi Kishan, comedian Raju Srivastava, Vinod Bachchan, amongst others.
While Anupam Kher and Ashoke Pandit flew down to the ancient city to participate in a panel discussion on Varanasi’s rich cultural heritage, award-winning filmmaker Rahul Mittra spoke on the importance of Uttar Pradesh as a centre for film production, on the second day of the festival.
It was followed by performances by singer Kailash Kher and Bollywood icon and MP Hema Malini among others. The Kashi Film Festival is taking place ahead of the beginning of the construction work on the ambitious film City at Sector-21 of the Yamuna Expressway Development Authority (YEIDA) area of Gautam Budh Nagar district in January 2022.
Ravi Kishan said: “The Prime Minister’s dream was to have grandeur in Kashi. We are celebrating the special festival of freedom. This festival will go a long way and lakhs of people will get employment from it.”
During the festival, efforts are being made to show people the journey of Varanasi city from being a cultural, mythological and historical heritage to becoming a modern city. At the same time, during this period, several films in different languages will also be shown based on the background of Varanasi.
