Mamata invites Amitabh Bachchan, Javed Akhtar & Shabana Azmi to KIFF 2024

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee invited veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan to the 30th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) during a recent meeting at Anant Ambani’s wedding in Mumbai. Bachchan, a regular at the festival since 2012, expressed to the CM that he had exhausted all his research on speaking at the festival’s mega inauguration event. However, Banerjee suggested a new idea, asking the ‘Paa’ actor to recite a poem this time. This year, KIFF will begin on December 4 and continue till December 11.

“I met a lot of people at the wedding from across the world. I met Amit ji. I have requested him to come to our film festival again but whenever he meets me, he says he has said everything in his speech.

This time, I told him to come and recite a poem. His physical presence is required at the film festival,” said Banerjee, who also thanked industrialist Mukesh Ambani and his family for their hospitality. The CM also shared that she met acclaimed lyricist Javed Akhtar and veteran actress Shabana Azmi but missed meeting Shah Rukh Khan. “They will also be coming to KIFF 2024. I couldn’t meet Shah Rukh because I didn’t see him,” she said. However, SRK has consistently attended the festival’s inauguration at Banerjee’s request. Bachchan, who has often attended the event as the chief guest with his family, once asked Banerjee not to invite him anymore, citing that he had exhausted all his research materials for his speeches. Banerjee mentioned she also met master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and senior political leaders like Uddhav Thackeray, Akhilesh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav. She recalled meeting with former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, an old friend from their days working together.

“She is also my old friend because we worked together,” said Banerjee. The wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant is the much-talked about event in the country right now. From the who’s who of Bollywood to political leaders, the guest list is exhaustive.

At the reception, Tollywood actors like Nusrat Jahan, Yash Dasgupta, Susmita Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee (Bachchan’s co-star in ‘Kalki 2898 AD’), Tota Roy Chowdhury, Kaushik Ganguly, and Raima Sen will likely to be present too.