The much-anticipated 14th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) commenced today with a star-studded inauguration press conference, marked by the presence of eminent Bollywood personalities and luminaries. Some notable faces from the Indian film industry who graced the event  were Karan Johar, Mrunal Thakur, Kartik Aryan , Anurag Kashyap and Kanu Behl and expressed their excitement about the festival .

Kartik shared, “I’m so overwhelmed to be in Australia and I’m thankful to Mitu and to IFFM for inviting me here. The love from the Indian community has been both surprising and overwhelming. Never thought there would be so much love and fanfare for Indian cinema in Australia”.

Mrunal added, "When I came to IFFM with Love Sonia, I didn’t have any plans or idea where my career would go. But I met Nikkhil Advani sir here in Melbourne who then offered me Batla House and even my producers of Sita Raman, I met in Melbourne. So this festival holds a very special place in my heart. I always love coming back here”.

Filmmaker Karan Johar, who is to be felicitated at the ceremony marking his 25th year in the industry shared, “This is my third time at IFFM. And I’m so grateful to the warmth and grace of the festival and everyone involved with it. I’m here joined by many fellow of the Indian film fraternity and I’m honoured to be amongst such impeccable talent. We have such iconic filmmakers and actors like the team of Sita Raman, a movie I have loved, Vijay Varma who can practically do any role given to him. Or Kartik, who has given us films that resonate with the entire country and has given films that brought people back to the theatres”.

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne starts from  August 11 and will go on till August 20 this year.