The Kolkata Film Festival, the country's biggest non-competitive event on cinema, will open in Kolkata from November 10 minus any glamour quotient with celebrities including Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi excusing themselves owing to preoccupation.
"We approached, Shah Rukh, Naseeruddin and Shabana and a number of others, but none of them was available owing to prior engagements,'' Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, heading the Information and Cultural Affairs department, which organises the festival said. The festival would be inaugurated by septuagenarian actor Soumitra Chatterjee who acted in lead roles in many of Satyajit Ray's films The eight-day festival, featuring 276 films from 62 countries, however, would not be without some pleasant surprises.
''For the first time, a Satyajit Ray film called Two will be shown at the festival. The film was commissioned by the oil company ESSO. It was thought to be lost, but we have been able to retrieve it,'' Bhattacharjee said.
Besides, a package of seven films would be screened under the section titled Ray's Favourite Hollywoods giving film lovers a taste of the works that inspired the master.
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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