IFFI closing: Rajinikanth honoured, Dharmendra remembered at star-studded ceremony

Panaji, Nov 28 (PTI) The star-studded closing ceremony of the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Friday ended on a high note with superstar Rajinikanth being honoured with the lifetime achievement award for his 50 years in cinema and Ash Mayfair's "Skin of Youth" claiming the top prize.

Superstar Rajinikanth was honoured by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant with a shawl and memento at the closing ceremony of IFFI.

“I stand here with a lot of humility and gratitude and my heartfelt thanks to the central government for honouring my work of 50 years. If I look back, it seems like it's been 10 to 15 years that I've been working and that's because I love cinema and acting. So, even after 100 years, I would like to be born as an actor, as Rajinikanth. Thank you for love and affection,” the 74-year-old superstar said.

The actor was accompanied by his family at the festival, which also saw the presence of Bollywood star Ranveer Singh, actor-filmmaker Rishabh Shetty, "Sholay" filmmaker Ramesh Sippy and Dhanush, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vineet Kumar Singh, Amit Sadh, and filmmakers like Madhur Bhandarkar, Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, and Shekhar Kapur.

The festival also paid homage to the artists who passed away this year with an audio-visual tribute, titled, ‘In fond remembrance of the artists we lost’ where Dharmendra, Kamini Kaushal, Sulakshana Pandit, Satish Shah, Piyush Pandey, Zubeen Garg and Shyam Benegal were remembered.

The festival also awarded winners in the ceremony with Vietnamese film "Skin of Youth", about a troubled romance between a transgender sex worker and a cage fighter, claiming the best film award.

Best director award went to Santosh Davakhar for his Marathi film "Gondhal", about a Marathi bride who uses her lovers obsessive nature during a ritual to play a dangerous game.

Colombian actor Ubeimar Rios won the best actor award for his role in "A Poet", a film about the lifelong obsession of man with poetry.

Jara Sofija Ostan won the best actor female award for her role in "Little Trouble Girls", a Slovenian movie about a 16-year-old introverted girl and her relationship with a fellow student. Special jury award went to Nigerian story "My Father's Shadow" and ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal was given to the film "Safe House".

Union minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L Murugan said he is amazed to see how IFFI is growing every year from strength to strength.

“The motive of the festival is to promote Indian cinema globally and for that IFFI is providing a platform to young filmmakers... This year Waves Bazaar did business of Rs.1000 crore, last year the amount was Rs. 400 crores. We gave opportunities for125 young minds. Our PM thinks of women empowerment, we’ve had films of 50 women directors screened at the festival,” Murugan said.

“We’ve the history of storytelling and we can connect it with technology, so we’ve Indian Institute of Creative Technology set up by the government. People often categorise films as North Indian or South Indian or East Indian cinema, but I would like to say it is pan-Indian cinema,” the minister said.

The closing ceremony featured performances from North Indian states wherein the contribution of artists like SD Burman, RD Burman, Zubeen Garg, and Papon was recognised. Artists also performed Yakshagana, a traditional art form from the state of Karnataka.

Govardhan Asrani, Pankah Dheer, Varinder Signh Ghuman, Bal Karve, Jaswinder Bhalla, Jyoti Chandekar, Ratan Thiyam, B Saroja Devi, Shefali Jariwala, Partho Ghosh, Vibhu Raghave, Shaji Karun, Manoj Kumar, Alok Chatterjeem, Shyam Benegal, and Zakir Hussian, were also remembered at the festival.

The Goa CM presented mementos and shawl to V Shantaram’s son, Kiran Shataram, Sippy, and Siddiqui for their contribution to cinema.

Singh launched the song, ‘Tu Agar Meri’ from his much-anticipated film, “Dhurandhar” and said he feels honoured to be in the presence of the biggest superstar of all times, Rajinikanth.

“I wish I could show the trailer and teaser of ‘Dhurandhar’ here but it's a bit bloody, so we showed the love song, I hope you all watch the film. Our director, Aditya Dhar, said his intention is to take the Indian movie to the world.

"China had its moment, with ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’, Korea had its moment with ‘Parasite’, and we hope this will be counted as one of the best in the genre. It is a complex story and visual spectacle. We realised that post covid promises big visual spectacle, intriguing tale,” Singh said.

The actor also lauded Rishab Shetty for his work in “Kantara 2”.

"I saw the film in theatres, it is an outstanding performance. Anybody wants to see me in 'Kantara 3'? Tell this guy, tell him. I’m very proud that you are taking Indian cinema forward. I can’t wait for your collaboration with Prasanth Varma, we are very excited, can’t wait for it,” Singh added.

Shetty said he thoroughly enjoyed the traditional Yakshagana act during the closing celebration.

"My acting career started with Yakshagana. We know about Mahabharata because of Yakshagana as it talks about everything about Indian mythology. They perform even today, and they are the true artists. I got the idea of making a rooted story like ‘Kantara’ from Yakshagana,” the actor said.

Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju said IFFI has turned out to be a memorable film festival.

“Waves Bazaar brought in record investment this year, we’ve had an AI hackathon this time, it all goes with the vision of our PM. AI is a major distriptor and the entertainment segment will be disrupted, there will be positive and negative (effect of it), but it is important to embrace any technology and guard the problems that come with it,” Jaju said.

At IFFI, the best debut director award for an Indian feature film was given to Karan Singh Tyagi for the Akshay Kumar-starrer “Kesari 2”. PTI KKP BK BK