Hiren Kotwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 27, 2019)

The closing ceremony of the ongoing 50th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa tomorrow (November 28) will be a star-studded affair. Apart from Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Amit Khare, Secretary I & B, and several dignitaries will rub shoulders with filmmakers like Rohit Shetty, Madhur Bhandarkar and Aanand L Rai and actors like Akshaye Khanna, Rakul Preet Singh, Nithya Menen, Vijay Deverakonda, Rashmika Mandanna and Ravi Kishan.

Roja actor Arvind Swami, Bollywood baddie Prem Chopra, Kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj, music maestro Ilaiyaraaja and Assamese filmmaker Manju Borah will be felicitated for their contributions to cinema with their body of work. Ilaiyaraaja will host a masterclass today. He will also be performing with his team.

“The theme of the closing ceremony is ‘Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat’. It will be a blend of music and dance,” says IFFI director Chaitanya Prasad. Hariharan will be performing, with some special compositions created specifically for the festival. He will also join Leslie Lewis to croon their Colonial Cousins’ hits. Tanushree Shankar, Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, and her troupe will perform seveneight dance forms from different parts of India.

After the hour-and-half long musical extravaganza, awards for the Competition sections will be given in the presence of the international jury, comprising French filmmaker Robin Campillo, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yang, Lynne Ramsay, one of the leading lights of young British cinema and veteran Bollywood filmmaker Ramesh Sippy.