Shah Rukh Khan to open the 26th Kolkata International Film Festival

Shah Rukh Khan will virtually inaugurate the 26th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) today (January 8).

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be joining the virtual inauguration of the 26th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on January 8. It will pay tribute to Satyajit Ray to mark his birth centenary year, and late Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee.

Asserting that the "show must go on", the chief minister said that this year's KIFF will be held on a smaller scale in a tweet. "Together we will overcome this pandemic. But the show must go on. We are going ahead with #KIFF 2021 virtually, on a smaller scale. Glad that my brother Shah Rukh Khan will join us virtually at the inaugural event on Jan 8, 4pm," Banerjee said on Twitter.

The seven-day festival will observe tributes to two icons of Bengal cinema -- Satyajit Ray on his birth centenary and Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee who died of post-Covid complications in November last year. 'Apur Sansar', Ray's classic and also Chatterjee's debut film, will be screened at the virtual inauguration. 

A total of 131 films -- in feature, short and documentary formats -- will be screened at the select state-run theatres of the city, including Nandan and Rabindra Sadan. Superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan along with other big names of Bollywood were guests at the inaugural ceremony for the past few years.

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