Union Minister Anurag Thakur calls for forging cinematic partnership among SCO nations

 MUMBAI: The five day SCO Film Festival opened in Mumbai on Friday evening in a glittering ceremony with the Union Minister Anurag Thakur and Minister of State Meenakshi Lekhi lighting the lamp along with other dignitaries.

The guest of honour at the opening ceremony Hema Malini and other eminent film personalities like Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Sajid Nadiadwala, Esha Gupta, Poonam Dhillon, Eli Avram, Hrishita Bhatt and Jacky Bhagnani were felicitated on the occasion.

"Indian movies are a rage across SCO countries and have played a great role in people-to-people connections," said the Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Anurag Singh Thakur adding that showcasing the diversity of films and styles of film making from SCO region is a major goal of the film festival. Thakur firther said this festival provides an incredible opportunity to forge cinematic partnership between the countries of this region.

The SCO Film Festival screens a total of 57 films and 14 films have been nominated in the Competition Section of the Film Festival. These include PanNalin's Oscar short listed Gujarati Film 'ChhelloShow' and Nikhil Mahajan's award winning Marathi Film 'Godavari'.

The SCO Film Festival is being held during India's Presidency of the International Cooperation Organization. It also coincides with the celebration of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

On this occasion, the promo of the animation series "Bharat Hai Hum" was released. The 52 part series being produced by the Central Bureau of Communication in collaboration with Graphiti Multi Media on behalf of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, tells the story of known and unknown freedom fighters to our most precious audience - the children. The series under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav banner is being anchored by the affable cartoon characters Krish, Trish and Baltiboy created by Munjal Shroff and Tilak Shetty. Veteran playback singer Sudesh Bhosale has given the voice over, stated a press release.

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