Mumbai Film Festival, one of the biggest film festivals in the country has an unquestionable impact in the global film world. The 15th edition of Mumbai Film Festival got kick started on 17th October at the Liberty Cinemas. In the presence of Bollywood stars like Sonakshi Sinha, Divya Dutta, Nandita Das and Tisca Chopra, the opening ceremony was highly splendid in all aspects.

The elegant opening ceremony started with the lighting of ceremonial lamp by the chief guest, Sonakshi Sinha. She was accompanied by the delegates from France, and filmmaker Shyam Benegal, chairman of organising body Mumbai Academy of Moving Image.

Several eminent filmmakers were present in the ceremony, and some of them includes, Waris Hussain, Roger Garcia, Deepa Mehta, Asghar Farhadi and Bruce Beresford.

French Filmmaker Costa Gravas and Indian acting genius Kamal Hassan were awarded for their lifetime achievements in this year’s film festival. Kamal Hassan who received the award dedicated it to his mentor, K Balachander. ”Many believe that Balachander discovered me, but I believe he invented me. It’s because of teachers like him I’m successful and I dedicate this award to him”, said an excited Kamal Hassan.

The 15th edition of the Mumbai film festival presented by Reliance Entertainment and organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image will feature more than 200 films from 65 countries. A whooping amount of $ 2,20,000 has been allotted to award as cash prizes, and this is something which is quite big in international film festival circles. The festival will mark its closing ceremony on 24th October 2013.