Veteran Bollywood actor Shabana Azmi was honoured with the Excellence in Cinema Award at the 2024 edition of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.
The award recognised Azmi’s contributions to Indian cinema and was presented by legendary actor Waheeda Rehman. The festival also celebrated 50 glorious years of Azmi’s career with a special screening of her iconic film "Arth".
Rehman praised Azmi, highlighting her performance in Karan Johar's 2023 film "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani".
"I’m nothing compared to Shaukat aapaa and Kaifi sahab (Shabana's parents), so what can I say about Shabana? She is a great artist. When "Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani" came out, I wondered what Shabana would do, but I knew Karan Johar and Shabana would create magic,” Rehman said.
Azmi’s acting journey began with Shyam Benegal’s "Ankur". Over the years, she has starred in socially relevant films that pushed the boundaries of Indian cinema, with performances in "Arth", "Masoom", "Mandi", "Fire", "Godmother", "Paar", "Neerja", and "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani", among others.
Meanwhile, the film festival opened with a jam-packed screening of "All We Imagine As Light", a film by Payal Kapadia that won the Cannes Grand Prix.
The latest edition of the film gala, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, officially kicked off at the Regal cinema in South Mumbai on Friday evening.
"All We Imagine As Light", which made history as the first film from India to win the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in May, is a Malayalam-Hindi language movie about Prabha (Kani Kusruti), a Mumbai nurse whose life is thrown into disarray when she receives a rice cooker from her estranged husband.
Divya Prabha plays Anu, her roommate and colleague, who struggles to find a private spot in the city to spend time with her boyfriend. Prabha’s best friend Parvati (Chhaya Kadam), a widow, is being forced out of her home by property developers.
Kapadia, along with actors Chhaya Kadam, Divya Prabha, Hridhu Haroon, and Rana Daggubati, was welcomed with applause and a standing ovation.
"All We Imagine As Light" is an Indo-French co-production between Petit Chaos from France and Chalk and Cheese Films from India, with Ranabir Das (who also served as the cinematographer on the film) as the Indian producer. It is distributed in India by Spirit Media, a production house founded by Daggubati.
The opening ceremony was attended by filmmakers like Kabir Khan, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vishal Bhardwaj (who came with his wife Rekha), Hansal Mehta, and Onir, along with actors Pratik Gandhi, Shriya Pilgaonkar, and Jim Sarbh, among others.
The Mumbai Film Festival, running from October 19 to 24 at two venues, Regal Cinema and Juhu PVR, will showcase over 110 films from more than 45 countries, spanning more than 50 languages.
The closing film of the festival is "Anora" by Sean Baker, which won the top prize, the Palme d'Or, at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
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