KIFF: Anurag Kashyap may bring Kennedy, Arijit Singh will sing the theme song

The 29th Kolkata International Film Festival’s official announcement took place on November 29 at a press conference at Rabindra Sadan. Along with the KIFF chairman Raj Chakraborty, Chiranjit Chakraborty, Goutam Ghose, Mimi Chakraborty, June Maliah, Haranath Chakraborty, Soham Chakraborty, Sudeshna Roy, and others were there at the press conference. Minister Arup Biswas and Birbaha Hansda were also present. 

This year, Arijit Singh will sing the theme song which is conceptualised by CM Mamata Banerjee. The festival will start on December 5 and will run till December 12. Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Kamal Hasan, Shatrughna Sinha, Sonakshi Sinha, Mahesh Bhatt, and Sourav Ganguly are expected to attend the inauguration event. The festival will spread across 23 theatres in Kolkata and will screen around 219 films. 

This year, a new competition section, ‘Bengali Panorama’ was introduced. The prize money in this category is Rs 7.5 lakh and a trophy. Talking about this, Chiranjeet said, “We should have started this category earlier. However, I am happy that finally this is happening.”  

Spain is the focus country this year, while Australia is the special focus country. Along with Mrinal Sen and Dev Anand, Mukesh and Shailendra’s centenary will be celebrated. There will be a ‘Homage’ section in which Soumendu Roy and others’ films will be screened. Laurence Kardish will present the Satyajit Ray Memorial lecture. Anurag Kashyap will be present with his film Kennedy. Aditi Rao Hydari may also join. Saurav Shukla, Manoj Bajpayee, and Sudhir Mishra will attend the Masterclass this year.