The Kannada film fraternity is gearing up for the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema, a four-day event to be held from 21-24 September in Chennai.
The film industry will be shut from 18-25 September as several big stars, producers, directors and other technicians will be attending the event to commemorate the achievements of Indian cinema in the last 100 years. Stalwarts from all four film industries will be honoured for their work.
Massive preparations are going on for the gala event that will witness the presence of celebrities from all southern film industries. The first-day event is dedicated to Malayalam and Tamil film industries, while the second day will see performances from Telugu and Kannada celebrities.
Kannada actors Diganth, Dhruva sarja, Komal, Shubha Punja and Vijay Raghavendra are among others who will give out performances on the eve of the centenary celebrations.
"Preparations are on at Rockline Studios and we are expecting all actors to be present at the function. A contingent of at least 50 artists and 200 dancers will be attending the function and some of them will be honoured on the day dedicated to the Kannada film industry," B Vijaykumar, president of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, told The Times of India.
"Stalwarts of Kannada industry like Ambareesh and V Ravichandaran have promised to grace the occasion on all three days. Along with them, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Home Minister KJ George and Minister for Kannada and Culture Umashree, among others, will be present," he added.
Other big stars including Darshan, Upendra, Shivrajkumar, Puneeth Rajukumar, Sudeep, Aindrita Ray, Radhika Pandit and Ragini Dwivedi will be heading for the grand final event on 24 September.
The final day event will also witness the presence of popular stars from other south film industries. Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Ajith, Mammooty, Mohanlal, Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan are expected to turn up for the occasion. Apart from the film stars, political leaders from the four southern states will gather for the mass celebrations.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will inaugurate the first day event on 21 September at Chennai's Nehru Stadium. Indian President Pranab Mukherji has also been invited to join in the celebrations. However, top Telugu film stars have reportedly backed out of the event due to the political unrest in Andhra Pradesh.
