Delhi set for star-studded IFFD 2026 with Vicky Kaushal, Hema Malini in attendance

New Delhi : With Bollywood stars like Vicky Kaushal, Hema Malini and Bhumi Pednekar set to participate, Delhi is gearing up to turn into a global cinema hub as the International Film Festival of Delhi (IFFD) 2026 has opened public registrations and unveiled a line-up of over 140 films from 47 countries.
Scheduled from March 25 to 31, the city-wide festival will offer free access to screenings, masterclasses, panel discussions, workshops and cultural programmes across the national capital, according to a release from the Delhi Chief Minister’s Ofiice (CMO).
The festival will see participation from leading names in Indian and international cinema, including Vicky Kaushal, Hema Malini, Bhumi Pednekar, Khushboo Sundar, Rana Daggubati, Divya Dutta, Annu Kapoor, Dr Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, Madhur Bhandarkar, Ramesh Sippy, Subhash Ghai, Sudipto Sen, Shiboprasad Mukherjee, Venkatesh, Arvind Swami, Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, Harish Bhimani, Esha Gupta, Malini Awasthi and Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan.
IFFD 2026 will open on March 25 at Bharat Mandapam with a red carpet gala and opening ceremony hosted by Arjun Kapoor and Nimrat Kaur. The evening will feature Anupam Kher, Vicky Kaushal, Sanya Malhotra, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Lauren Gottlieb, followed by the gala screening of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Sirat’.
The festival will be held across Bharat Mandapam, PVR-INOX theatres and curated public venues, with screenings also extending to outdoor locations, inflatable theatres and mobile LED units across the city, according to the release.
Public registrations are now live at https://www.iffdelhi.com/, with all screenings and public programmes free to attend, subject to prior registration and venue capacity, the release said.
At its core, the festival will present a diverse film programme selected from over 2,000 submissions, spanning international features, documentaries, short films, animation and hybrid formats. Key highlights include ‘Indian Cinema Now’ featuring over 40 gala screenings across multiple Indian languages with cast and crew in attendance, and a Partner Festival Showcase presenting selections from the Singapore International Film Festival, including works by Anthony Chen and Jeremy Chua, with ‘Amoeba’ as the closing film, according to the CMO.