Ardent cinephiles continue to folk the Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai 2013 on its 3rd day at Fun Republic Andheri West, Mumbai. Started with a bang on September 24, followed by two days of successful screening of some cult and classic national and international feature and short films, the festival entered into its 3rd day of celebrating cinema with much excitement and anticipation. The 3rd day of this six-day long cinematic extravaganza began with the screening of India’s classic Mughal-E-Azam, directed by the veteran K Asif. It was a treat for the current generation to watch the most successful film and one of the finest pieces of cinema of yesteryears’ on big screen.

The first film showcased under the World Panorama category was Justin Owens’ Chapman (English Feature). The occasion was graced with the presence of the director of the film and the actress Christine Woods. Chapman was followed by Reha Erdem’s Turkish film Jin. Two of the top 10 films of the festival – Water and Rock the Casbah – were also screened on this day. An outcome of a unique Israeli/Palestinian cooperation, Water was a beautiful compilation of some fictional and some self-experience based stories, directed by Yael Perlov, Nir Sa’ar and Maya Sarfaty, Yona Rozenkier, Mohammad Bakri, Ahmad Barghouti, Pini Tavger and Tal Haring. Each of these stories touched upon the Israel and Palestine conflict and revolved around the common source of life – water.

Rock the Casbah, the Hebrew film made by Yariv Horowitz was about the extraordinary journey of a young soldier. In this 93 minute film, the director had very creatively shown the chaotic surroundings of the Occupied Territories during the Palestinian’s struggle for independence. How one incident changes the lives of four young soldiers and one Palestinian family was beautifully shown in this film. A Greek film The Daughter, directed by Thanos Anastopoulos was also showcased under the World Panorama category on the 3rd day of the festival. The Director was himself present on the occasion to receive direct reactions of the audience.

The first film screened under the Indian Showcase (Feature in Competition) segment was Anurag Basu’s Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra starer highly acclaimed blockbuster film Barfi. Set in the 1970s, Barfi was the story of turbulent life-journeys of three young people, who discovered the extraordinary power of love, which they can not define but only experience; love that can not be restricted by the society’s norms of normal and abnormal. Another remarkable film showcased in this category was Nitin Kakkar’s Filmistan. It was the story of kidnapping of an affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who was mistaken for an American. He Befriended the house guard, where he was kept hostage, on a common-interest ground – Films.  This film had shown how cinema can become the universal panacea for co-existence.

Belli Kiranaa, a Kannada film directed by KK Shivarudraiah and English Vinglish in Hindi by debutant director Gauri Shinde, along with Shiboprasad Mukhopadhyaya’ Bengali film Alikn Sukh, were some of the other highly appreciated films showcased in this category.

Other yesteryears’ classics screened in the latter part of the 3rd day of the festival were Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa (Hindi), Satyajit Ray’s Apur Sansar (Bengali), Bimal Roy’s Madhumati, and Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay. It was a treat to all cinema lovers to watch these classics on big screen and experience the charm of the old Indian cinema.

An important event that marked the first half of the Jagran Shorts section was Master Class by Devis Zaim – an open forum for discussion. The latter part of the day showcased some high-quality national and international short films. Some of these were Lucia Van Gelderen’s Spanish film Aguamadre; Resonance: 1st Contact, a French film by Kissari Salim; Sirdgela, a 12 min Lithuanian film by Abhijeet Kumar; Mod, a Turkish film directed by Deniz Tarsus; Abhist Gaurav’s 9 min Hindi film, Sacchai Ka Ainak; and Andrea Lannetta’s directed Hindi, English film Allah is Great. Beside these Akousa Adoma Owusu’s Kwaku Ananse (English), Clement Decaudin’s A Coupe De Couteau Dente (French), and Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome (Hindi) were also showcased in this category. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s highly successful film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, based on the live of athlete Milkha Singh, became a great inspiration for the audience on the 3rd day of the festival.