Vazhakku Enn 18/9 takes the honours at the Chennai Film Festival

Vazhakku Enn 18/9 takes the honours at the Chennai Film Festival

10-ciff-Award Function-Vazhakku Enn 18/9 best film

The 10th edition of the Chennai Internal Film Festival concluded with Bollywood’s Amitabh Bachchan, voted as ‘superstar of the millennium’ on-line by his legion of fans, taking part in the concluding day celebrations. To Kollywood’s honour, the Tamil film Vazhakku Enn 18/9 directed by Balaji Sakthivel was adjudged as the ‘best film’ and was closely followed by Pizza, Sattai and Mouna guru which received ‘special awards’ from the jury.

Amitabh Bachchan donated Rs.11 lakhs to the organizers of the Film Festival which took place in Chennai from 12-20 December. The concluding ceremony was held at the Woodlands Complex in Chennai on the night of Thursday (20th December). Amitabh started by saying ‘Vanakkam’ in Tamil and then switched to speak in flawless English. He touched on a range of topics, including the recent deadly gang-rape in New Delhi.

“The recent atrocities against women occurring in our country are heart-breaking. When we come to theatres to watch films, we don’t know as to who would be sitting next to us: what caste or religion as to the she or he next to us belongs to. We all enjoy the film for more than two hours; we weep with the film, laugh with it and enjoy all the finer moments in it. Films are, without doubt, a great unifying factor in our country.

“I’m happy to be part of such a film industry in our country which produces the maximum number of films in the world. In particular, the South Indian film industry’s contribution to this number is amazing. Many extremely talented technicians are here, working with great unity. The punctuality and discipline prevailing in South Indian films is hardly found in Bollywood, the Mumbai film industry.

“I have plenty of friends from the Tamil film industry and feel proud to have worked with many great technicians here. Still, I know that we (Bollywood) have to learn a lot from you (Kollywood). I expect Suhasini Madam to invite me to the Chennai Film Festival every year. I’m ready to do even minor chores as my contribution: I’m ready to lift the chairs, etc.” concluded Amitabh and donated Rs.11 lakhs to the organizers.