Shabana Azmi Honored at MAMI Film Festival

MAMI Mumbai Film Festival: Shabana Azmi honoured with Excellence in Cinema Award

MAMI Mumbai Film Festival-2024 was inaugurated with the screening of filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s film All We Imagine As Light.

Noted actress Shabana Azmi was honoured with the ‘Excellence in Cinema Award’ at the festival.

The festival is organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image and was officially inaugurated on Friday evening at Regal Cinema in South Mumbai.

Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine As Light’, the first film to win the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival in May, is a Malayalam-Hindi film based on the life of Mumbai nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti).

Shabana Azmi was honoured with the ‘Excellence in Cinema Award’ by Waheeda Rehman for her exceptional contribution to Indian cinema at the film festival. The occasion also celebrated 50 years of her illustrious career with a special screening of Shabana Azmi’s landmark film ‘Arth’.

Speaking on the honour, Shabana Azmi said, “In filmmaking, actors get the most prominence because they are in front of the camera, but there is a whole team behind the scenes that works to make the film strong and hide its weaknesses.”

The festival’s opening ceremony was attended by renowned filmmakers like Kabir Khan, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vishal Bharadwaj, Hansal Mehta, and Onir, as well as actors like Pratik Gandhi, Shreya Pilgaonkar, and Jim Sarbh.

The Mumbai Film Festival will be held from October 19 to October 24 at Regal Cinema and Juhu PVR, showcasing over 110 films from over 45 countries in over 50 languages.