2016 Jaipur Film Festival ( JIFF ) will open with a Pakistani biographical film Manto and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Piku. The eighth edition of the fest, beginning on January 2 here, will be inaugurated by filmmaker Prakash Jha. Manto (from Pakistan) and Piku will be the opening films of the festival while Iraqi Odyssey (from UAE ) and Saankal (from Rajasthan) would be the closing films of the festival.

Manto is a 2015 Pakistani biographical drama film based on the life of Pakistani short-story writer Sadat Hassan Manto, who grew-up in the showbiz industry of Bombay (now Mumbai) and Lahore. It focuses the last seven years of writers life during which he wrote some of his most controversial stories, such as Thanda Gosht, Toba Tek Singh, License, Upar, Neechay aur Darmiyan and Peshawar Se Lahore. For which Manto had to face charges of obscenity thrice. Whereas, Piku tells the story of the short-tempered Piku Banerjee (Padukone), her grumpy, ageing father Bhashkor (Bachchan) and Rana Chaudhary (Khan), who is stuck between the father-daughter duo, as they embark on a journey to Kolkata.

The festival will begin from January 2 to 6 , 2016.