Kolkata: Bollywood star Salman Khan arrived in this metropolis to attend the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival, which will be inaugurated at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in presence of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee this evening.
The 8-day mega festival will screen around 219 films from 39 different countries, 72 features and 50 shorts and documentaries in different competition categories of KIFF, according to Festival Committee Chairperson Raj Chakraborty.
Besides Salman Khan, veteran star Anil Kapoor and Kamal Hasan will also grace the inaugural function at Netaji Indoor Stadium where actor turned MP Shatrughan Sinha will be present as a special guest.
Spain will be the focus country in the festival and six contemporary works from that country to be shown during the week.
Thirteen films from across the globe will vie for the Best Film and Best Director Golden Royal Bengal Trophies in the International Competition (Innovation in Moving Images) with prize money of Rs 51
lakh and Rs 21 lakh respectively in the festival, according to state minister and KIFF chief advisor Aroop Biswas.
The 1963 Bengali classic Deya Neya, starring Mahanayak Uttam Kumar and Tanuja, will be the inaugural film.
The Bengali Panorama section will be competitive for the first time with prize money of Rs 7.5 lakh for the winner.
The Centenary tribute section will be studded with films by Mrinal Sen, Dev Anand and Richard Attenborough along with five others.
While the prestigious Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Laurence Kardish on December 9, Manoj Bajpayee and Sudhir Mishra will address one of the masterclass sessions on acting and direction.
