Ashutosh Gowariker At Mumbai Film Festival

The eight-day gala affair at the 12th Mumbai Film Festival concluded Thursday night in a grand way with active participation from Bollywood and presence of legends like Manoj Kumar and Hollywood filmmaker Oliver Stone. The closing ceremony of the fest witnessed an award ceremony that was attended by Yash Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Sudhir Mishra, Madhur Bhandarkar, Arunoday Singh, Satish Kaushik, Prem Chopra, Hrishita Bhatt, Rituparno Sengupta, Rajshree Ojha and Aamir Bashir among others. The event was hosted by Fardeen Khan and Raima Sen. The lifetime achievement awards were bestowed on two veterans Manoj Kumar and Oliver Stone, who received standing ovations by the audience. After receiving the award Manoj said: "I'm happy to receive this award. I must salute all for wonderfully handling this festival. I want to tell the organisers that anytime they need me, I will always be there for them." The other lifetime achievement award winner, Stone, who has won Academy Award thrice, said in his acceptance speech that he is honoured to get this award. "Thank you Mumbai. India has great culture, you make great movies and I am honoured to accept this award," he said. The festival, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), included 215 feature films, 15 documentaries, 24 short films on nine screens across Mumbai and over Rs. 1 crore in prize money.