Curtain falls on Gandhinagar film festival

The three-day-long Gandhinagar International film festival came to a grand close on Sunday. Veteran actors and filmmakers like Satish Kaushik, Om Puri, Shyam Benegal, Fardeen Khan and others were present at the closing ceremony of the festival hosted by City Pulse Institute of Film and Television.

More than 35 movies were screened and enjoyed by the audiences during the festival. The presence of well-known Bollywood and international personalities as well as the horde of movie buffs at the event clearly showed the success of the film festival. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal also went on to announce at the closing ceremony that this film festival will take place every year in the month of February.

Speaking to DNA, the owner of City Pulse Institute of Film and Television, Ashok Purohit said, "It was much better than expected. We received a good response from Bollywood as all 45 actors, directors and producers we had invited attended the festival. We also got a good response from the viewers and several shows ran houseful."

Hollywood producer Leslee Udwin who was also present for the screening of her movie 'West is West' said, "Indian films, presently, are going through a metamorphosis. It is interesting as more and more meaningful movies are coming up. The formula of having only Bollywood stars in a movie to make it successful isn't working. Sensible directors are also getting a chance to showcase their talent."