BENGALURU: The 10th Bengaluru International Film Festival was inaugurated at a gala event on the steps of the brightly lit Vidhan Soudha here on Thursday. The event was marked by grand folk performances, while Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan and director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra added glitter to the proceedings.
A slew of incentives for Kannada films were also announced. However, several Kannada actors whose names were mentioned in the invite were absent. They included Shivrajkumar, Sudeep, Darshan, Jayamala, Ambarish and Umashree. Actress Suhasini and Shruti Hariharan, who were supposed to host the event, were also absent. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too could not attend the event.
Kareena Kapoor Khan, on the occasion, spoke of her grandfather Raj Kapoor’s love for cinema and for the city of Mysuru. “Bengaluru will always be special for the Kapoor family. I have a feeling my grandfather’s spirit is amongst us tonight, telling all the filmmakers and actors to keep up the good work,” she said. Thanking the Kannada film fraternity, she said though she does not know Kananda, she hoped to entertain Kannadigas in the language some day.Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra termed himself Bengaluru’s ‘son-in-law’ as his wife is from the city. Lifetime achievement award was announced for director Mani Ratnam.
‘Make a film on Kannada novel, get Rs 25 lakh incentive’
Kannada film producer Rajendra Singh Babu said that the government would return the GST component on their films to producers. “The government will provide D25 lakh incentive for making a film on Kannada novel, with an additional D5 lakh to be awarded to the novel’s author. Incentives of up to D5 crore will be provided to whoever shoots in the state,” he said. Babu also announced that the Chief Minister would lay the foundation stone for a film city in Mysuru on March 6, and the state would set up janta theatres across the state. He said Karnataka was the only state that had given so many incentives to regional cinema. The festival is organised by Government of Karnataka, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy and Department of Information and Public Relations and will go on until March 1.