MID-DAY (October 29, 2015)

Movie buffs thronging Bandra’s Mehboob Studios attend the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) Film Festival will not only have the opportunity to tune into classic and contemporary cinema, but also interact with people who make and star in movies.

Day three of the festival, which kicks off today, celebrate Bollywood and have a mix of industry biggies addressing the audience. While Varun Dhawan will talk about films that changed his life, Deepika Padukone reflect on her journey in Bollywood so far.

Sonam Kapoor will attend a session with standup comic Rohan Joshi on being a celebrity in the times of social media and veteran actor Rishi Kapoor will conduct a masterclass. Alia Bhatt, Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Kriti Sanon and Ayushmann Khurrana will share their thoughts on how they see Bollywood changing over the next five years.

Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Boney Kapoor and others associated with the 1987 film Mr India have also been invited for a session called Mr India Reunion. Music composer Pritam will share stories behind the making of his top 10 songs. Popular directors including Kabir Khan, Zoya Akhtar and Dibakar Banerjee will attend chat sessions while Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi will mentor aspiring film writers on penning a block buster.

Anupama Chopra, festival director, says, “We have dreamt about creating something like this for many years because we felt we should have a ground event to celebrate Bollywood. Somehow, it never worked out earlier because it is an expensive proposition. This is a celebration of Hindi cinema. We have worked a lot and for a long time in chasing the talents and get them on board for Movie Mela. I am glad it is happening finally.”