Regional films dominate 51st IFFI's Indian Panorama line-up
New Delhi: The 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has announced the list of Indian Panorama films for the year 2020, with regional language movies reigning the feature section and having a significant presence in the non-feature category.
The nine-day film gala, which takes place in Goa from November 20-28 every year, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and will now be held from January 16 to January 24.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday unveiled the titles of 20 non-feature and 23 feature films, to be screened during the festival.
The line-up of the feature category in the Indian Panorama comprises 18 regional language films including "Bridge" (Assamese), "Avijatrik" (Bengali), "A Dog And His Man" (Chattisgarhi), "Pinki Elli?" (Kannada), "Safe" (Malayalam), "Eigi Kona" (Manipuri), "Prawaas" (Marathi), "Kalira Atita" (Oriya), "Thaen" (Tamil) and "Gatham" (Telugu).
"Saand Ki Aankh" (Hindi), directed by Tushar Hiranandani and starring Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar, will be the opening movie for the feature film section at the festival, which will also see the screenings of Vetri Maaran's Tamil film "Asuran" and Govind Nihalani's English animation "Up, Up & Up".
Sanskrit language movie "Namo" is also part of the list of features selected by a jury headed by filmmaker-writer John Mathew Matthan.
Nitesh Tiwari's Hindi feature "Chhichhore", starring actor Sushant Singh Rajput who died in June this year, has been included as part of three mainstream films, which also consists of "Asuran" and Malayalam movie "Kappela".
The movies were selected by an internal committee of Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) based on the recommendations of Film Federation of India (FFI) and Producer's Guild.
The non-feature section includes eight regional names -- "Highways Of Life" (Manipuri), "Jhat Aayi Basant" (Pahari/Hindi), "Oru Paathiraa Swapnam Pole" (Malayalam), "Paanchika" (Gujarati), "Radha" (Bengali) and Marathi titles "Still Alive", "Khisa" and "Pandhara Chivda".
Ankit Kothari's "Paanchika" will be the opening non-feature film section of Indian Panorama 2020.
Other titles to be showcased under the category are "100 Years Of Chrysotom - A Biographical Film", "Ahimsa- Gandhi: The Power Of The Powerless", "Justice Delayed But Delivered", and "Investing Life".
Regional titles were also the centre focus of IFFI during its golden jubilee edition in 2019. Various regional films were screened as part of Indian Panorama and over 12 films, made in different languages about 50 years ago, were also showcased during last year's gala.
National Award-winning Gujarati movie "Hellaro", directed by Abhishek Shah, was the opening film of the feature section in 2019.
Malayalam film "Uyare" by Manu Ashokan and Lijo Jose Pellissery's "Jallikattu", India's international feature film Oscar entry for 2020, were also also part of last year's line-up along with "Ek Je Chhilo Raja" (Bengali), "Iewduh" (Khasi/Garo) and "OththaSeruppu Size 7" (Tamil).
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Assam polls: Cong announces first list of 42 candidates, Gaurav to contest from Jorhat
Guwahati (PTI): The opposition Congress on Tuesday took the lead in announcing its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Assam, with it comprising both sitting MLAs and former ministers, and also new faces, including sons of three prominent politicians.
The party's chief ministerial candidate and state president Gaurav Gogoi will contest from the prestigious Jorhat assembly constituency, currently held by BJP's Hitendra Nath Goswami.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha will make his first electoral foray for the assembly.
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Gogoi is currently the party MP from the Jorhat parliamentary constituency and previously represented Kaliabor twice before it was reconstituted during the delimitation exercise in the state.
The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia, will contest from the family stronghold of Nazira, which he has represented since 2016. His father, former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, and his mother, Hemoprava Saikia, previously represented the constituency.
Three sitting MLAs -- Nandita Das from Hajo-Sualkuchi, Diganta Barman from Barkhetry and Nurul Huda from Rupohihat -- have also been included in the list.
Das, a two-time MLA, had earlier contested from Boko but following the delimitation exercise in the state, she has been shifted to Hajo-Sualkuchi while Barman and Huda will contest from the same seats they represented in the current assembly.
Former minister and state Congress president Ripun Bora will contest from Barchalla while another former minister, Ajit Singh, will contest from Udharbond constituency in Barak Valley.
Former minister and Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukan, a four-time MLA till 2016, will contest from Naharkatia in Upper Assam.
Tanzil Hussain, son of Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, will contest from Samaguri where he had lost to BJP's Diplu Ranjan Sarmah in the 2024 by-elections which was necessitated following the election of the senior Hussain to Lok Sabha.
Prateek Bordoloi, son of Nagaon MP Prodyut Bordoloi, will contest the Margherita seat which was represented by his father thrice since 2001.
Former five-time MP and prominent tea tribe leader Paban Singh Ghatowar's son Pranjal Ghatowar will contest from the Chabua-Lahowal seat.
Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Borthakur, who had unsuccessfully contested the last parliamentary polls from Gauhati, has been given the ticket for the prestigious Dispur constituency.
Former BJP MLA Ashok Sarma, who was denied ticket by the ruling party in 2021 and went on to join the Congress in 2024, will contest from his previous Nalbari seat.
Another former BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar, who joined the Congress in 2024, will contest from Sonai constituency in Barak Valley.
Former AGP MLA Satyabrat Kalita, who joined the Congress in September 2025, will contest from Kamalpur seat.
Other prominent faces in the list include former Congress MLAs Durga Bhumij from Doomdooma, Binanda Kumar Saikia from Sipahjhar and Bubul Das from Jagiroad (SC) constituency.
The Congress is a leading part of the unified opposition alliance, 'Asom Sonmilito Morcha', formed to challenge the ruling BJP, and has entered into seat-sharing arrangements with the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Left, but is yet to finalise it with Raijor Dal.
Presently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven and BPF has three members.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is an Independent legislator as well.
