Eighteen Indian films are being screened the Shanghai International Film Festival showcasing 100 Years of Indian Cinema.
The 16th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) which was opened on June 15 contained a panorama of Indian movies commemorating 100 years of Indian cinema.
A total of 18 movies would be screened during the Festival from June 15-23, 2013 of which 8 movies were screened on the opening day itself, the Indian Consulate in Shanghai said in a press release today.
The panorama covers a wide variety of movies ranging from first Indian film 'Raja Harishchandra' to old classics like 'Awara' to recent hits like '3 Idiots', 'Jolly LLB' and 'Barfi'. Both 'Awara' and '3 Idiots' were immensely popular in China.
Speaking at the opening ceremony for the Indian section, Consul General of India in Shanghai Naveen Srivastava, highlighted wide canvas of Indian cinema with films being produced not only in Hindi but also in other languages.
Several members from the audience posed questions on the development of Indian cinema and prospects of cooperation between Indian and Chinese movie industry during the Q and A session after the inauguration.
The opening ceremony was followed by screening of the award winning popular Indian movie 'Wake up Sid'. The movie was highly appreciated and touched a chord among the predominantly Chinese audience, the release said.
The SIFF, founded in 1993, is China's only A-category international film festival. In recent years, SIFF has become one of the largest film pageants in Asia-Pacific region in terms of scale and influence.
Indian films have also been participating in the competition category of SIFF since 2011. This year the movie 'The Bright Day' directed by Mohit Takalkar is one of the nominees for the Asian New Talent Award.
Incidentally, the film 'Kshay' (Corrode) was awarded with Asian New Talent Award at the in 15th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2012.
