Mayank Shekhar, Vinod Shrivastav, Arjun Kapoor, Manoj Shrivastav and Ajay Brahmatmaj at launch of JFF book, Talkies — Cinema Ka Safar co-authored by Shekhar and Brahmatmaj at the festival opening ceremony

The seventh edition of Jagran Film Festival (JFF) kicked off yesterday at Cinepolis, Andheri, with the screening of French-Algerian thriller 'Road To Istanbul'. Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor inaugurated the event by lighting the ceremonial lamp and launched a book titled Talkies – Cinema ka Safar.

Arjun said, "It is an honour to be part of such a prestigious event. This festival is unique in the sense that it travels to 16 cities. I have had the privilege of watching cinema from across the world and am glad that now we are able to provide a platform to filmmakers to showcase their films and for the audience to get exposed to world cinema."

The 31-year-old also talked about JFF serving as a "great learning platform" for budding filmmakers. "With film festivals, today's youth has the opportunity to watch, learn and understand world cinema. A lot of films showcased at the festival will be followed by a master class conducted by industry veterans. There are some interesting films this year; the opening film (Road To Istanbul), especially, has caught my attention," added Arjun.