First Bengali film festival held in the city, a starry affair

Bengaluru: Kolaj- first Bengali film Festival held in the city concluded on April 10. Graced by who's who of Bengali film fraternity, it was organized from April 8 to 10. As many as 9 Bengali feature films and 7 short films were featured during this three-day festival and the closing ceremony was followed by award night.

Inaugurated by Dr Ramalinga Reddy, former Minister of State for Home Affairs, the first day of this film festival not only saw the screening of masterpiece movies but also a special tribute was given to the late actor Puneeth Rajkumar. Kolaj, a three-day film festival is an annual film festival that seeks to join the dots by screening Bengali films and filling up the empty spaces in the lives of the Bengali diaspora residing in Bengaluru Appreciating the initiative, Dr Ramalinga Reddy said, "It is a great moment that we are celebrating the great masterpieces and talent from Bengal. Bengaluru has always been the city where cultures from all across the country co-exist together. This city has always exhibited cosmopolitan culture and hosting the first Bengali film festival is reiterating the same thing.

Calling himself a great movie buff and a Moon Moon Sen fan, Reddy also mentioned, "In my younger days, I loved watching movies and have been a great fan of Moon Moon Sen. However, with an active political career, you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulder and therefore you do not get time to watch movies."

This three day film festival was graced by the stars like Moon Moon Sen, Rudranil Ghosh, Darshana Banik, Saurav Das, Rwitobroto Mukherjee, Sohag Sen, Pujarini Ghosh and Aishwarya Sen. It also saw the screening of movies like Bohomaan, 1971, Naalish, Ebong Ami, Akash Angshoto Meghila among others.

It was actress Swastika Mukharjee who stole the show on the final day of the festival. Her movie Guldasta also was screened on the third day and this screening saw the presence of the entire star cast of the movie who got the limelight.