PIFF kicks off…
The seventh Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) got off to a magnificent start at the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch on January 8. Several stars and politicians were present at the inauguration. Srinivas Joshi paid tribute to his father Pandit Bhimsen Joshi accepting the Pandit's felicitaton by chief guest Anand Sharma, minister of state for external affairs. Amidst humourous words by politicians and actors the speech in Hindi by deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Chhagan Bhujbal, had the audience applauding.

The crowd went nostalgic when a special screening of a short film on Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was held. The event also had eminent personalities including Jabbar Patel, director of PIFF, Randhir Kapoor and actress Tabu.

It was a walk down the memory lane for the audience as well as the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award — Sulochana didi, Shashi Kapoor and Hema Malini as clips from their films describing their career and journey were screened. The packed auditorium responded with applauds and standing ovations to their achievements. While Sulochana didi thanked everyone very briefly, Hema Malini described the award as an interval between what she has done and what she would further do. Randhir Kapoor expressed gratitude on Shashi Kapoor's behalf on receiving the award.

The PIFF signature tune was also screened at the event that followed the screening of the inaugural film at the festival Persepolis. Harshavardhan Patil, minister of culture also stressed on making PIFF the official festival of the state.

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