Honoured that 'X' will open SAIFF: Sudhish Kamath

Sudhish Kamath is "honoured" that "experimental" film "X", co-directed by 10 more independent filmmakers, has been selected to open the forthcoming 11th South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF).

The SAIFF will kick off Nov 18 and will continue till Nov 23.

"It means a lot for a small film to be given the honour of the opening film when there are much bigger films like the deliciously promising 'Happy Ending', the Cannes acclaimed 'Titli' or one of my favourite films of this year 'Jigarthanda'," Kamath told IANS.

"Just to be in the company of films as diverse as these is very encouraging for an experimental collaborative film like 'X' that hopes to build bridges between the various cinemas of India," he added.

"X", produced by Manish Mundra, is a filmmaker's journey through his past encounters with his 10 ex-girlfriends as he spends one surreal unforgettable night at a film festival after he meets a mysterious girl who intriguingly seems to have something to do with every woman in his life.

"It takes a lot of generosity and selflessness for a producer to fly down this big a team for the US premiere. We owe it to Manish Mundra and SAIFF for giving us an international platform and the best launch we could have got," he said.

Kamath along with 10 other filmmakers that include Q ("Gandu"), Nalan Kumarasamy ("Soodhu Kavvum"), Suparn Verma ("Aatma", "Ek Haseena Ek Khiladi"), Raja Sen, Sandeep Mohan ("Love Wrinkle Free"), Pratim Gupta ("Paanch Adhyay"), Hemant Gaba ("Shuttlecock Boys"), Abhinav Shiv Tiwari ("Oass"), Anu Menon ("London Paris New York") and Rajshree Ojha ("Aisha", "Chaurahen") will be in attendance for the premiere.

Starring Rajat Kapoor in the lead, the film also features 11 heroines - Aditi Chengappa, Bidita Baig, Gabriella Schmidt, Huma Qureshi, Neha Mahajan, Parno Mitra, Pia Bajpai, Pooja Ruparel, Radhika Apte, Richa Shukla, Rii Sen and Swara Bhaskar.

Anshuman Jha has also played an important role.