MUMBAI, 30th OCTOBER 2015: Hugely anticipated, Eros International and Hansal Mehta's 'Aligarh', opened the Jio MAMI 17th Mumbai Film Festival with Star India in a packed screening at Regal, Colaba tonight. This pivotal film marked the first time that a Hindi film opened the festival since 1997, the inaugural year of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.
The film's stars Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkumar Rao and director Hansal Mehta walked the red carpet, followed by personalities such as Vidya Balan, Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Smita Thackeray, Ava DuVernay and Christina Voros among others. The film received tremendous response from the delegates.
Set in a small town in Uttar Pradesh 'Aligarh', is the story of a professor (Manoj Bajpayee) fired from his job because of his sexual preferences. A young journalist (Rajkummar Rao) tells his story to the world. Based on true events, the film follows Dr. S R Siras, a professor at the Aligarh Muslim University who, when discovered to be homosexual, was fired unceremoniously. The film depicts the unlikely friendship between Dr. Siras and a reporter investigating his first big story. It unfolded into a relationship that changed both their lives.
National Award winning director, Hansal Mehta, said "Be it at the prestigious Busan film festival, or BFI, London, 'Aligarh' has been given standing ovations & has won overall applause. The audience at JioMAMI has similarly applauded the film for it's sensitive storyline & focus on current prejudices that are impacting Indian society. Here at home, 'Aligarh' built a special connect. We as the team that has worked diligently on the film feel gratified, and are very grateful for the consistent support that Eros International gave us in this journey."
Producer, Sunil Lulla, Managing Director, Eros International further added, "Aligarh is a film that mirrors the challenges of real life. At Eros we believe in supporting content-driven, high quality cinema and that is exactly what Hansal has delivered through this film. We are very happy with the positive reactions at the premiere last night and we are looking forward to take this film to audiences worldwide very soon".
The Jio MAMI 17th Mumbai Film Festival with Star India will be held in Mumbai from October 29th to November 5th 2015. The film screenings will take place at PVR Juhu, PVR Citi Mall, Andheri, PVR LP, Phoenix Mills, PVR Ghatkopar and Regal-Colaba. To attend the festival, viewers can register online athttp://in.bookmyshow.com/mami/ or visit registration counters at the festival venues listed above.
JIO MAMI VISION 2015
The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival is an inclusive movie feast. We showcase the latest cutting-edge, independent cinema - art house fare alongside genre movies from Bollywood and Hollywood and cult international movies. We offer the best of world cinema to the people of Mumbai and we offer the best of Indian cinema to the world. The festival is run by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image popularly known as MAMI. This is a space where we revel in the sheer pleasure of cinema, the joy it gives us and how much it enhances our lives. The goal is to nurture and ignite a passion for movies. We want Jio MAMI to be shorthand for excellence in cinema.
ABOUT JIO MAMI
Mumbai - the financial capital of India is also the epicentre of the Indian film industry. The city plays such a major role in production and dissemination of Indian films and television programmes that it is widely known by its acronym 'Bollywood'. In 1997, a group of film industry stalwarts headed by late Hrishikesh Mukherjee founded the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) as a not-for-profit Trust. Their main objective was to organise an annual International Film Festival which the film industry and the country could be proud of. MAMI has been organising the festival for the last 16 years and aims to foster a climate of good cinema. MAMI engages people from all walks of life across the city and country who enjoy and love good cinema. It is Mumbai's only film festival that is entirely created and run by film professionals and a group of members from corporate India. Appreciation of good cinema, stripped off all the limiting labels of art and commercial, can only come about through exposure to the best of films the world has to offer. The Festival is the first step in that direction.
In their Mission Statement in 1997, the MAMI Board of Trustees said, "We feel it is the need of the hour to disseminate and inculcate good cinema among Indian audiences. The only way to achieve this is to celebrate cinema by hosting an International Film Festival in Mumbai, India 's film and entertainment capital. MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image) is committed to start Mumbai's first independent international film festival organized by practicing film makers."
