'Karzzz,' Satish Kaushik's much-hyped remake of the 1980s Rishi Kapoor-starrer smash hit, had its international premiere at the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) at Abu Dhabi, which has also seen the screening of two other films with an Indian connection. Karzzz", starring singer Himesh Reshammiya as the lead actor, narrates the tale of a rock star's revenge with Cape Town as its backdrop. The movie also stars Urmila Matondkar, debutante Shweta Kumar, Gulshan Grover, Raj Babbar and Danny Denzongpa.
"It is a privilege to have 'Karzzz' selected as the only Hindi film to be premiered at the Abu Dhabi Film festival," said producer Bhushan Kumar after the screening on October 16.
Toronto-born Richie Mehta's 'Amal,' an unabashedly lovely film about a poor auto rickshaw driver from New Delhi, was screened twice at the festival.
'Amal' presents the daily life in New Delhi and shows the rewards for human compassion. Replete with characters including a dying street urchin, an eccentric millionaire, a good-hearted auto-rickshawwallah and a lovelorn shopkeeper, it has something to offer for everyone.
With Naseeruddin Shah, Roshan Seth, Seema Biswas and Koel Purie as the cast, the film has won over 15 international awards, and has been named as one of the Canada's Top Ten films by the Toronto International Film Festival.
Another movie with an Indian connection Sir Richard Attenborough's magnum opus 'Gandhi' was screened in the "Special Presentation" section of the festival. The film, dubbed into Arabic, had its first local premiere at an international film festival.
As the principle organiser of MEIFF 2008, one of our intrinsic values is the celebration of culture," said Mohamed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Vice Chairman of MEIFF.
