The film revolves around an insomniac ex-cop, long thought to be dead, but still operating for the corrupt system, and looking for redemption
Our Bureau
Mumbai
Anurag Kashyap’s film ‘Kennedy’ starring Sunny Leone and Rahul Bhatt, recently had its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2023. The film premiered during the midnight screening and reportedly received a 7-minute-long standing ovation. The film revolves around an insomniac ex-cop, long thought to be dead, but still operating for the corrupt system, and looking for redemption.
Now, ‘Kennedy’ has been selected as the closing night film at the 14th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM). Kashyap shared his excitement about his film being selected for closing night at the IFFM and said, “I am delighted that ‘Kennedy’ is the closing film at IFFM. It’s the first Indian film festival we are playing in the world, and I am excited to know the response of the audience. I will be there to attend the same and gauge the response, and am sure that they’ll like the film, like the global audience who’s seen the film till now”. The movie was also screened at the Cannes Film Festival and now it is another major achievement for the film.
Helmed by Kashyap ‘Kennedy’ stars Sunny Leone, Rahul Bhatt and Abhilash Thapliyal in the lead roles. The closing night ceremony of the festival will be graced by a number of celebrities. Kashyap along with Sunny Leone and Rahul Bhat will also attend the event and talk about their film.
The festival, celebrating the best of Indian cinema, will conclude with the screening of ‘Kennedy’ on August 20 in Melbourne.
The 14th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne will run from August 11 to August 29, showcasing an array of outstanding Indian films across various genres and also films from the Indian subcontinent.
‘Kennedy’ has been in the headlines for a variety of reasons since its announcement. The teaser and posters were well received by audiences and generated positive buzz among moviegoers and the film made a huge impact at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, where the film received a seven-minute standing ovation from the audience. Even the notable director Shekhar Kapur is all praises for the film and team.
The makers kept a special screening of the film in Mumbai recently, which was attended by several filmmakers and actors from the industry including Manoj Bajpayee, Vijay Varma, Shabana Azmi, Shekhar Kapur, Sudhir Mishra, Varun Grover, Neeraj Ghaywan, Shazia Iqbal, Piyush Mishra and Pavail Gulati while Sunny Leone hosted the screening on behalf of whole team. Shekhar Kapur praised the film and said, “I have never seen Anurag Kashyap’s film that hasn’t fascinated me. But this one works otherwise it made me cry, it made me wonder, it kept me stressed out he does that anyway but I really really enjoyed the film. Enjoy is very difficult word to use for films that are sometimes get so dark but it’s a fascinating film.”
While praising the film, director Sudhir Mishra who saw the film for the fourth time stated, “Brilliant film. It’s a very well-done film. He is one of my favourite film makers.”
Anurag Kashyap recently completed 30 years in the city of dreams, Mumbai. To mark the occasion, Anurag took to his Instagram and shared a picture of the Punjab mail train which he captioned, “3rd June, 1993 I landed at Dadar station .. it was raining. I didn’t know that monsoons in Bombay were that long .. I remember taking my first local train from Dadar to Andheri to meet a friend, who came from Delhi before me. He who became the inspiration for @imtiazaliofficial ‘s most special film “Rockstar”. I got courage from both Jaggu and Imti to come to Mumbai but then. So grateful to this city for everything and all the friends and memories that it has given me #karmbhoomi”.
Soon after the filmmaker penned down the note, fans and friends swamped the comment section with red heart emoticons and congratulatory messages. Actor Arjun Kapoor commented, “Punjab mail to sangam mail.”
Director Vikramaditya Motwane, “So grateful that you took that train.”
“Such a commendable journey,” a fan commented. A fan wrote, “Thank you for coming to Mumbai and inspiring us.”
Anurag is known for his films like ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, ‘Manmarziyaan’, ‘Dev D’, ‘No Smoking’, and ‘Raman Raghav 2.0’ among others.
