5-day Indian film festival begins in UAE

Dubai, Apr 9 (UNI) The fourth edition of award-winning Indian films' festival kickstarted at the Al Dhafra Theatre in Abu Dhabi.

The event has been organised jointly by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and the Embassy of India in the UAE.

While inaugurating the five-day festival yesterday, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Talmiz Ahmad, expressed the hope that the screening of award-winning Indian films will help deepen the relationship between India and the UAE by providing an opportunity to the Emiratis to have a genuine insight into the regional cultures of India.

The Director-General of the ADACH, Mohammed Khalaf Al-Mazroueim, described the festival as not only a celebration of cinema but a celebration of the Indo-UAE cultural dialogue.

South Indian film directors T V Chandran and Girish Kasaravalli along with actor Navya Nair were present at the inaugural session, the Khaleej Times reported.

The festival is set to show nine films from different parts of India.

''India is a multi-lingual and multi-cultural country and some of the regional films seek to capture the nuances of those cultural divergences in an intense manner. It is important to show those films to the people outside the country so that they will have a better understanding of the life and cultures of the people in different parts of India,'' Chandran and Kasaravalli said.

The Indian ambassador disclosed that the Embassy was planning a series of events like painting exhibition, literary dialogue, and a general exhibition as part of its initiative to widen the relationship between India and UAE.

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