IFFI 2023: Filmmaker Aravind Sinha slams Bollywood for their presence at film festival

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has landed in controversy after documentary filmmaker Arvind Sinha questioned Bollywood's presence in the Film festival. According to a new report by PTI, Arvind Sinha said that Bollywood is 'getting into these spaces' and further added, 'They don’t need support from the government. What are they doing here?'

Arvind said "What is to be promoted (through IFFI) is good cinema. Bollywood has its own money, finance, muscle power, through all these things, they are getting into these spaces... (The people) who are making the decision should have clarity that public taxpayers money should not be spent on filmmakers like Karan Johar... They (IFFI organisers) have to support the documentary filmmakers, feature filmmakers who need support. There are no rajas-maharajas to support the artistes, the government should support any work of art…Why should these spaces be given to those who already have everything? They don’t need support from the government. What are they doing here? The film festival is not for them. The film festival should be for good cinema."

Filmmaker producer Karan Johar was present at the 54th IFFI in Goa, where he unveiled the motion poster of their upcoming film Ae Watan Mere Watan with Sara Ali Khan. However, Aravind's remarks did not sit well with the Indian Film and Television Directors' Association (IFTDA), who released a statement condemning the speech as 'distasteful.'

The official statement read, “The speech of Chairperson, Indian Panorama non feature film jury head, Mr. Arvind Sinha, on the 2nd day of the opening ceremony of IFFI function in Goa, is distasteful, disgusting and disastrous, which had made Hon. Members of film fraternity a target of hate.”

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