Amitabh Bachchan heads to Dubai for film awards

That Indian entertainment is more than just Bollywood is a point organisers of the annual Marathi International Film and Theatre Awards (Mifta) want to prove.

The first edition of the new awards show, modelled after the successful India International Film Academy (IIFA) Awards, are being held from December 16 to 18 in Dubai. Over 150 Marathi film and theatre artistes will take part in various activities around the event, organisers said in a press statement.

Actor-filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar, the brain behind the MIFTA, said the event is a celebration of popularity and fame of Marathi films and theatre across the world and will commemorate the golden jubilee of the formation of Maharashtra, a state on India’s west coast that is home to Mumbai, the country’s financial capital.

He told media he wanted the event to “make people aware about the existence of good, top-notch Marathi films. And we chose Dubai primarily because the Maharashtrians here have always patronised and supported good Marathi plays and cinema."

Despite the attempt to establish a separate identity for Marathi entertainment, the event will piggyback on Bollywood’s star power – the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan is to be chief guest at the event and Salman Khan launched the awards’ website, mifta.in.

"Bollywood can easily spread throughout the world through a widely spoken national language like Hindi but Marathi being essentially a regional language it creates many limitations. But even then a serious effort must be made to cross these limitations to acquaint the world with the Marathi films because that alone is the key for the prosperity of the Marathi theatre and films," Khan, whose mother was Maharashtrian, told media earlier this week, while appealing to expatriate Indians to patronise Marathi movies.

Over 40 people associated with films and stage plays produced in Marathi will be honoured with various awards. Some of the state’s leading actors are also expected to attend, including Nana Patekar, Atul Kulkarni, Vikram Ghokale and Sachin Khedekar.

Marathi cinema has a special place in Indian film history: the first feature film to be made in the country was directed by the Maharashtrian filmmaker Dadasaheb Phalke.

Voting is open to the public at the MIFTA website until December 10.  Tickets to the awards ceremony on December 17 are available from Dh50.

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