GOA: ‘Safarnama’, an exhibition dedicated to the four legendary artists of Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi, Tapan Sinha and Akkineni Nageswara Rao is one of the new features added to this International Film Festival of India (IFFI) being held in Goa. The event is part of their birth centenary celebrations.
The exhibition honours these four cinematic legends with curated content and rare archival materials, including posters, videos, and memorabilia, paying tribute to these iconic figures who shaped Indian cinema.
The week-long exhibition was open to the public on Thursday. It offers a dynamic exploration of Indian cinema’s journey from its early days to contemporary innovations. It is expected to attract a significant number of school students, making it an educational experience for the younger generation, said officials.
Actor Nagarjuna inaugurated the exhibition in the presence of his family. While interacting with the media, he gladly highlighted that for him cinema is Indian and there is no language bar. He also mentioned that the legacy established by his father Akkineni Nageswara Rao and also by the other centenarian legends like Raj Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi and Tapan Sinha were truly unprecedented.
The multimedia exhibition is organised by the Central Bureau of Communication, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MI&B) to highlight India’s rich cinematic tradition and history to the people.
During the inauguration, the secretary of the ministry Sanjay Jaju said that the history of Indian cinema dates back to the film Raja Harishchandra when India was under colonial rule. "Even with that India managed to create a cinematic mind and that tradition has been kept intact till now. This initiative from IFFI aims to salute that rich heritage and showcase the traditions especially before the young students to entice their interest in Cinema and the rich cultural value we have inherited through it," he said.
The event also witnessed the launch of KTB - Bharat Hain Hum, Animation Series Season-2. The animated series on freedom fighters will stream from December 1 on Doordarshan, Netflix, Prime Video and WAVES along with a radio series on Akashvani and a podcast on Spotify. The series will be available in 12 Indian languages—including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, and Odia—and seven international languages – French, German, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Chinese and Arabic making it accessible to a global audience in 150 countries, further amplifying its reach.
During the launch, a signature song was also released marking the tradition of Doordarshan and the future of WAVES, the new OTT Initiative by Prasar Bharati.