Amitabh Bachchan To Inaugurate Kolkata International Film Festival Today

The eight-day long Kolkata International Film Festival 2022 will be opened by legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan today in Kolkata. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will preside over the inaugural ceremony.

The biggest names of the film industry will be in Kolkata this afternoon to inaugurate the Kolkata International Film Festival 2022. The event will be attended by Amitabh Bachchan. Shahrukh Khan, Mahesh Bhat, Shatrughan Sinha, Jaya Bachchan , Rani Mukherjee, Kumar Sanu and Arijit Singh.

West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose will be the Chief Guest while Amitabh Bachchan will declare the festival open. After the inaugural ceremony, there will be a screening of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Abhimaan in which Jaya Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan portray principal characters. This is to pay tribute on the birth centenary of the legendary filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Superstar Shahrukh Khan who has a release coming up after years will also be at the event as Guest of Honour. Shahrukh Khan is making a return to the big screen after 4 years as Yash Raj Films' 'Pathaan' releases. 

Activists of an outfit on Wednesday staged a protest against the film "Pathaan" and its song "Besharam Rang" in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh.

Kolkata has been decorated with posters and branding of the film festival. Catchy hoardings celebrating some of the best moments of world and Indian cinema have been juxtaposed to celebrate the KIFF's theme Bishwa Meley Chhobir Melay (Meet the World at the World of Cinema). 

The promotional posters have gone viral on social media as they depict iconic movie characters from international films sharing space with memorable characters from Bengali and Hindi films. 

Uttam Kumar from Nayak, Apu (character from Satyajit Ray's, Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks's character in the iconic movie), Soumitra Chatterjee as 'Feluda' & Charlie Chaplin all share space in the cleverly designed promotional posters.

The Kolkata International Film Festival will be held from today till the 22nd of December. Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra will deliver the Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture.

"The Kolkata International Film Festival which had started in the year 1995, had drawn inspiration from film legends in Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen and many more stalwarts of cinema from Bengal, who have contributed to world cinema; hence the festival has earned international accolade since the very beginning but was somewhat confined to the more sophisticated and learned fraternity," the website of the festival says.

"It was only in the year 2011 under the able leadership of the Hon'ble Chief Minister, West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee that the doors of this gala event were opened to the masses and since then, the spectacle of KIFF has never failed to reach to the common man, touching the hearts of thousands of cine lovers who wait every year to get absorbed in the festivity of world cinema," the website adds.

One of the flagship events of the State Government, KIFF caters to cinema lovers of Kolkata and viewers who want to watch cinema of international standard. The 28th KIFF promises to be even more magnificent and true to its style, the organisers say.