Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 9, 2015)

On Thursday, the new team of the Mumbai Film Festival organised by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) met with the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. The eight-member team included Chairperson Kiran Rao, festival director Anupama Chopra, along with Karan Johar, Vikramaditya Motwane, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Riteish Deshmukh, Smriti Kiran and Seema Mohapatra. The meeting was set up by Riteish.

Speaking to Mirror, Riteish said: "We have certain ideas on how to make MAMI the cultural ambassador for Mumbai and India. Every festival, whether it's Toronto, Sundance, Berlin or Cannes, has a city identity, so why not MAMI?"

He admitted that this was just an introductory meeting with the CM to make a presentation. They plan to have many more such meetings with the respective department heads with detailed reports. "What was encouraging was that the CM was very positive. Every successful festival has the support of the local government. Government support is necessary not just because it would ensure funds but would also make MAMI more people friendly. Let the city own the fest."