Spectacular and glittering opening to 53rd IFFI Awards in Goa

Panaji: A glittering and spectacular entertainment program was organized in Goa’s capital Panaji at the opening of 53rd edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here today.
The opening ceremony of the festival was held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium at Taleigao near the city.
The theme of the opening ceremony is “Evolution of Indian Cinema in the last 100 years”.
Film personalities Mrunal Thakur, Varun Dhawan, Catherine Teresa, Sara Ali Khan, Karthik Aryan, Amritha Khanvilkar, Paresh Rawal, Sunil Shetty, Manoj Bajpayee, Prasoon Joshi, Vaani Tripathi, Ajay Devgan, Prabhu Deva, Shreya Sharan, Pankaj Tripathi, Vijendra Prasad attended the opening ceremony.
Governor of Goa P S Sreedharan, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for I&B Dr L Murugan and Union Minister Shripad Naik were also present at the event.
The ceremony began with a brilliant performance of actor Mrunal Thakur.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his best wishes to the annual event held in Goa.
International jury members, actor Manoj Bajpayee, Sunil Shetty, Ajay Devgan, Paresh Rawal, Vijendra Prasad were felicitated during the program.
Spanish film maker Carlos Saura was awarded with Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award.
Actor Chiranjivi was confirmed with Indian personality of the year award.
The Austrian film, Alma and Oskar, directed by Dieter Berner, was screened at festival venue before the opening ceremony.
A total of 280 films from 79 countries are to be screened during the 8-day long festival. (UNI)