Kamal @ IFFI ‘08
Kamal was invited to be the Chief Guest at the closing ceremony of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) this year, in Panaji (Goa). He presented the awards to the winners including Tulpan (from Kazakhstan) for the best film. He spoke in his inimitable style, referring to the Mumbai terror strike, saying that life must go on. Read reports from The Hindu, The Times of India, The Asian Age and Media Newsline.
Earlier, he also had the honour of felicitating K Balachander, his mentor, with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Daijiworld.com featured excellent photographs of both events. You can see his new get-up, with a ravishing hair-style and a trimmed beard, a glimpse of which we already caught at Nambiar’s mourning.
I have heard that Kamal used to frequent IFFI in the 80s to catch movies of the world. Times have changed and now he can probably watch them at home. But it is a privilege to be the Chief Guest at the very festival he used to go to as a visitor.
[With inputs from Ananth]
December 6th, 2008 at 3:31 am
I’ve been a fan of Kamal not only in his movies but also about his brave and open views in life. I have not always agreed with his views but have always appreciated his open views about issues.
Two instances are his outburst during Virumandi where he highlighted the fallacy of protecting a culture when culture itself changes over time, and his recent statements & letter re. the trials faced by Tamils in Sri Lanka. One could see the emotion when he stated that Tamils were suffering because they spoke a language he did.
But I am disappointed by his recent statements following the mumbai attacks. Like the Indian media which harps about Hindu extremism but does not ever call the terrorist attacks Islamist, Kamal has also remained silent. I wish he had mourned the people who were attacked only because they lived in a country he does and were mostly born in a religion he did, no matter if they did not follow it like he does not.