Mumbai film festival promises more glamour, movies

MUMBAI (Reuters) - With a 40-million rupee makeover and a dash of Bollywood glamour, the Mumbai film festival hopes to carve out a niche in a festival circuit dominated by Cannes and Berlin.

The Mumbai festival, now in its 11th year, had been a low-key affair so far, with hardly any participation from the Bollywood film industry.

This year, the annual event's budget has been boosted with 40 million rupees from Reliance Big Entertainment, a division of Reliance ADA Group.

"As the capital of India's film industry, we felt that Mumbai should have a festival that will be worthy of its status," Reliance Big Entertainment chairman Amit Khanna said on Tuesday.

"This year, the festival will have more than 200 films from 56 countries."

The Mumbai Film Festival kicks off on Oct. 29 with American filmmaker Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant" and ends on Nov. 5 with Greek director Theo Angelopoulus's "The Dust of Time".

During the festival veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor will be honoured along with Hollywood screenwriter Paul Schrader.

Indian filmmakers Karan Johar and Farhan Akhtar will be part of the opening and closing ceremonies and a host of Bollywood stars are expected to lend a touch of glamour to the event.

When asked if the Mumbai event would provide competition to the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, festival director S. Narayan said there was no question of any competition.

"They have been around for years, we are just starting out. We hope to learn something from them."