5th Jagran Film Festival Day 6: Cinema's day out

Manoj Srivastav

The Jagran Film Festival (JFF), which started on September 22, has seen fluctuating footfall throughout the week. However, Saturday proved to be a blockbuster of a day for cinephiles at PVR Andheri and Cinemax Versova where impressive films were screened.

(L-R): Manoj Srivastav from Jagran, Tom Waller and Vithaya Pansringarm at the coffee table discussion. Pics/Shadab Khan

Imtiaz Ali's Highway registered a housefull in Screen 5 at PVR. Some gems from international cinema, too, were appreciated at the event. From a Russian-Lithuanian film, The Gambler, that kickstarted the fest to the Thai movie, The Last Executioner, the overall response was impressive. Among Hindi mainstream films, Sanjay Puran Singh's Lahore paid homage to late actor
Farooque Sheikh.

Imtiaz Ali's film Highway registered a housefull at the festival

In the afternoon show, an Assamese feature film titled Othello attracted an interesting mix of crowd. Audiences were moved by the movie's adaptation of William Shakespeare's epic character without losing out on indigenous nuance. Revolving around a protagonist affected by leucoderma, the film is poignant and non-linear. Director Ranjit Sarma said, "There's an Othello everywhere. Not just in Assam but across the world. We are all Othellos in our own ways."

Imtiaz Ali

Movie buffs walked in for face-to-face interactions with film experts. A scripting workshop by Kireet Khurana titled Visual Scripting brought out some nuances for novice writers. Later, in the afternoon, under the Coffee Table session, director Tom Waller was present along with Thai actor Vithaya Pansringarm. Moderated by Manoj Srivastav of Jagran, the session saw both the director and actor reveal what made them a winning combination. Their film, The Last Executioner, was warmly received in the night screening.

Audiences lapped up the 25-minute French-German drama, Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas. Filmgoers of varied age groups queued up for Bimal Roy's Sujata.

Overall, it was a wonderful day for cinema-lovers. Today marks the final day of JFF with the award function in the evening at PVR.