Bollywoood's brigade backs MAMI Mumbai film festival

Mumbai: Mainstream actors Kangana Ranaut, Rajkummar Rao, Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra turned up at the launch of the 17th Jio MAMI Mumbai International Film Festival, expressing their support for the event which is a platform for independent filmmakers to showcase their work.

Aditya Roy Kapur, Huma Qureshi, "Pyaar Ka Punchnama" actor Kartik Aaryan and "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani" director Ayan Mukherjee also attended the event, held last evening at the Gateway of India, adding to it the required commercial value.

Last year, the movie extravaganza was going through a financial crunch before it was resurrected through crowd-sourcing and social media campaigns, which saw participation of many Bollywood celebrities.

Complimenting the grandeur of the event, "2 States" star Alia said, "The festival has certainly gotten bigger and better. I am looking forward to watching many movies here. It is a great time to catch up."

"Shahid" actor Rajkummar said he was excited to be part of the event as his movie "Aligarh" will be opening the festival. "I feel fortunate. MAMI is a great platform and the festival is only getting better every



year."

Sidharth praised the line-up of the films, even though he may not be able to watch all of them. "Since I am busy shooting I won't be able to watch all the movies. But Kiran (Rao) has briefed me regarding the films and the line-up is impressive," he said.

From films like Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer "Haraamkhor", one of India's this year's Cannes Festival entry "Chauthi Koot", "Umrika" that earned an award at the Sundance Film Fest, to classics like Guru Dutt's "Pyaasa", Satyajit Ray's "Apur Sansar", "Pather Panchali" and MS Sthyu's "Garam Hawa", MAMI offers a huge variety to cinema enthusiasts.

A new addition to the festival this year is "Movie Mela". In the "Bollywood Next 5 years" segment, actors like Alia, Parineeti Chopra, Kriti Sanon, Arjun Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurana and Aditya Roy Kapur will be participating in panel discussions on October 31 at Mehboob Studio.

Actor Varun Dhawan and actress Deepika Padukone will also be present for separate sessions.

Earlier, Ranaut and actress Nimrat Kaur joined megastar Amitabh Bachchan and superstar Aamir Khan for a MAMI festival campaign film, directed by Vikramditya Motwane of "Lootera" fame.