Superstar Rajinikanth has been named as the winner of the centenary award for Indian film personality of the year.
Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting, announced on Tuesday that the Tamil actor will be conferred with the Indian Film Personality of the Year Award during the 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), to be held in Goa from 20-30 November.
Rajinikanth began his acting career with the 1975-release, "Apoorva Ragangal". Since then, he has starred in several films in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and other languages. The actor, who has been part of several blockbuster films, entered the 40th year in the industry this year.
The actor has won several awards and honours including the prestigious Padma Bhushan award, the third highest civilian award in the country. His fans are excited and posted congratulatory messages on social media sites for winning the award.
A source close to the actor has confirmed his participation at the 45th IFFI, reported The New Indian Express. He will be sharing dais with the chief guest of the event, Amitabh Bachchan, on the opening day ceremony on 20 November.
As many as 75 countries will take part at the IFFI and 179 films will be screened in different categories including 61 films in 'World Cinema,' seven films in 'Soul of Asia,' 11 films in 'Masterstrokes' and 20 films in 'Festival Kaleidoscope.'
In the Indian Panorama section, 41 films will be screened including 26 feature films and 15 non-feature films. Feature films will be from different languages including seven in Malayalam and Marathi each, five in Bengali, two in Hindi and one each in Assamese, Kannada, Khasi, Odiya and Tamil.
"The President", directed by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, will be the opening film at the fest, while Wong Kar-wai directorial "The Grandmaster" will be the closing film. Kar-wai will be receiving the lifetime achievement award at the fest.
China will be the guest country at the IFFI and there will be discussions and collaborations among Indian and Chinese filmmakers during the fest, reported The Hindu.
There will also be focus on women-centric films from North-Eastern states and retrospective sections on filmmaker Jahnu Barua, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski and lyricist Gulzar.
