
Amitabh Bachchan, Kajol and Kamal Haasan at Kolkata International Film Festival.
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Amitabh Bachchan, Kajol and others were present at KIFF
Shah Rukh Khan spoke eight sentences in Bengali at the festival
KIFF will pay homage to veterans like Om Puri, Tom Alter
Mr Amitabh Bachchan asked Mamata Banerjee not to invite him to the festival any more. He is the chief guest for the fourth time today and said he was running out of ideas for his inaugural speech. However, he spoke movingly today about Bengali cinema's contribution to music in Indian films.
Shah Rukh Khan spoke eight sentences in Bengali to resounding applause and said he would wear a dhoti for the next festival. Kamal Haasan, who many thought may slip in a word about his political plans, spoke briefly on films. Mr Mahesh Bhatt made a more political speech, saying freedom of speech must be protected.
The inaugural film today is Iranian director Mostafa Taqizadeh's debut film Yellow. It has won several awards this year itself, at Shanghai. Yellow is about friends trying to raise money for a liver transplant for one member of the group.
One of the people on stage with Mamata Banerjee today was British director Michael Winterbottom, who will be showcasing six of his films. He is the maker of The Mighty Heart, a film on the US journalist Daniel Pearl who was killed in Pakistan.
KIFF is the second oldest film festival in the country. It will also pay homage to veterans like Om Puri, Tom Alter and Ramananda Sengupta who have recently passed away. They include films like the 1959 film Headmaster whose cinematographer was Sengupta, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, which featured Tom Alter and Om Puri's Sadgati.