NEW DELHI: The 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to be commenced on November 23 in Goa will miss out southern star Kamal Haasan from the section to felicitate those celebrating golden jubilee in Indian cinema.
The star's movies' absence from the show is apparently his making.
S M Khan, the director of film festivals, on Monday said though Kamal Haasan was celebrating the fiftieth year of his entry into the silver screen, he could not be included as he wanted a package of seven of his works to be showcased instead of three as planned at the IFFI. "We are not in a position to showcase Kation to showcase Kamal Haasan's demanded to showcase seven of his films. The actor had made his debut as a six-year-old child artiste in Kalathur Kannamma in 1959 and won the National Film Award for the Best Child Artiste.
“We are not in a position to showcase Kamal Haasan’s demand to showcase seven of his films. So we will be doing a complete retrospective on him in February 2010 in Delhi,” Khan said.
“The secretary of the ministry is the deciding authority. The request is under his consideration,” Khan said.
The actor had made his debut in the silver screen as a six-year-old child artiste in 'Kalathur Kannamma' released in 1959 which won him the National Film Award for the best child artiste.
The IFFI will showcase the films of Asha Parekh, Sharmila Tagore and Soumitra Chatterjee who had completed 50 years in Indian cinema.
The entry of the Malayalam film 'Pazhassi Raja' in to the Indian panorama section is under the consideration of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The section on world cinema will showcase 55 films from 45 countries. In the competition section, 13 films will compete, out of which two are from India.
The IFFI will also witness screening of Films Division documentaries on musicians. A mid-festival fashion show themed ‘Fashion in Indian Cinema’ will also be part of the festival.
An international short film competition will also be held, it will be judged by a jury headed by filmmaker Shaji N Karun. Tributes will be paid to Sakthi Samantha, Firoz Khan, Prakash Mehra, Nagesh, A K Lohithadas, Murali, Rajan P Dev and Leela Naidu, among others who passed away last year, by showing their movies.
The Indian premier section will showcase a selection of eight films. The films selected are 'And Once Again', 'Red Alert: The War Within', 'God Lives in the Himalayas', 'Shahrukh Bola Khoobsoorat Hai', 'Zagor' and 'Vimukthi' by Seshadri. The Indian panorama will showcase 47 films in both feature as well as non-feature section.