23rd Pune International Film Festival To Honor Shubha Khote, Anupam Kher, And Kavita Krishnamurthy
23rd Pune International Film Festival To Honor Shubha Khote, Anupam Kher, And Kavita Krishnamurthy
The 23rd Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) is set to honour senior actress Shubha Khote and renowned Hindi film actor Anupam Kher with the PIFF Distinguished Award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema. The S.D. Burman International Award for Creative Music and Sound will be presented to the celebrated singer Kavita Krishnamurthy. This announcement was made by PIFF Director Dr. Jabbar Patel during a press conference today. Chairman of Film Selection Committee Samar Nakhate, Member of the Film Selection Committee Abhijeet Ranadive, Deputy Director Vishal Shinde (Programme and Film), Deputy Director Aditi Akkalkotkar (International Communication and Coordination) were also present on the occasion.
The festival’s inaugural ceremony will take place at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on February 13 at 5 pm and will be graced by the presence of the Cultural Affairs Minister of Maharashtra, Ashish Shelar. The ceremony will feature a performance by the renowned percussionist Vijay Chavan, followed by the screening of the Italian film ‘Gloria’ by Margherita Vicario as the opening film.
PIFF, one of India’s most prestigious film festivals, showcases a diverse range of films from around the world. The fe
stival is jointly organized by the Pune Film Foundation and the Cultural Department of the Government of Maharashtra, in association with Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari Mumbai.
The festival will conclude on February 20 at Balgandharva Rangmandir in the evening, featuring the Spanish film ‘The Room Next Door’ by Pedro Almodovar as the closing film.
During the press conference, Dr. Jabbar Patel also announced the names of the festival jury, which includes:
• Marco Bechis – Chilean-Italian film director and screenwriter
• Margarida Gil – Portuguese filmmaker and teacher
• Petri Kotwica – Finland filmmaker
• Tamineh Milani – Iranian filmmaker and screenwriter
• Djordje Stojiljkovic – Cinematographer, Serbia
• Sudath Mahaadivulwewa – Sri Lankan Film Director
• Archana – South Indian actress
• Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury – Indian Film Director
Dr. Jabbar Patel also highlighted the various workshops organized as part of the festival:
1 . Government scheme to promote Marathi Cinema by Swati Mhase Patil – February 14
2. Talk on Documentary by Renowned Makers (Umesh Kulkarni, Anupama Shrinivasan, Sarvnik Kaur, Kuldeep Barve) – February 15
3. Vijay Tendulkar Memorial Lecture on Acting by Boman Irani – February 16
4. Cinema and Soul: Tapan Sinha by Swapan Kumar Mallick and Goutam Ghosh – February 17
5. Creating Content with AI Films: Pacco Torres – February 18
6. Marathi Panel: Challenges in Marathi Cinema: From Production to Audience – Paresh Mokashi, Aditya Sarpotdar, Adinath Kothare, Sunil Phadtare – February 19
Delegate registration for the festival has started on the official website www.piffindia.com, with a catalog fee of just Rs. 800 for all participants.
Anupam Kher – (born 7 March 1955) is an Indian actor, director and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, he has acted in more than 540 films. Kher is recipient of two National Film Awards and eight Filmfare Awards for his acting performances.Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016 for his contribution to Indian cinema and arts.
Kher’s acclaimed roles include Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006), Buddha Mar Gaya (2006), A Wednesday! (2008), Baby (2015), M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016) and The Kashmir Files (2022); for which he received a nomination in the Filmfare Award for Best Actor category. Besides working in Hindi films, he has also appeared in international films such as the Golden Globe-nominated Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Ang Lee’s Golden Lion-winning NC-17 rated Lust, Caution (2007), David O. Russell’s Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and Anthony Maras’ Hotel Mumbai (2019). He received a BAFTA nomination for his supporting role in the British television film The Boy with the Topknot (2018).
He has previously served as the Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification and the National School of Drama. He was appointed Chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 2017.
Shubha Khote – (Born – August 30, 1937) is an Indian film and television actress who has worked in several Hindi-language and a few Marathi-language films. She is also a former women’s national champion in swimming and cycling.
She made her stage debut as child actor at age 4, and her film debut in Seema (1955) as Putli. Her good cycling made her widely known, and led to Seema’s team casting her. Since then, she has starred in a large number of Hindi and Marathi movies, stage shows, and TV serials. She mostly starred opposite Mehmood and the pair became hit in Sasural, Bharosa, Ziddi, Chhoti Behan, Sanjh Aur Savera, Love in Tokyo, Grahasthi, Humrahi and Beti Bete. She also played negative roles in Paying Guest and Ek Duuje Ke Liye. In 1962, she received two nominations for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for Gharana and Sasural.
Kavita Krishnamurthy – (born as Sharada Krishnamurthy, 25 January 1958), is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded numerous songs in various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Marathi, English, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Nepali, Assamese, Konkani, Punjabi and other languages. She is the recipient of four Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Awards (winning consecutively during 1995–1997), and the Padmashri which she received in 2005. She was awarded a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) for her contributions to Indian music by Bangalore-based Jain University in 2015.
She is an alumnus of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai from where she did her BA Honors Economics. She was very active in St. Xavier’s music group. During her college days at St. Xavier College, Mumbai, she got an opportunity to record a song in the Bengali film Shriman Prithviraj in 1971 with Lata Mangeshkar as co-singer under the auspices of the music composer and singer Hemant Kumar.
