Bollywood Fest

Welcome to the Bollywood Festival Norway 2011

The 9th Bollywood Festival: The Indian dance and film festival of Norway. It was held from 2nd – 9th September 2011 and was a very successful event. The event was extremely well received by the local Norwegians and the immigrant’s communities of Norway. The festival was held at the newly opened Lørenskog Hus and Cinema. A state of the art and cultural centre with amazing live theatre and cinema facilities. Whole 8 days of festival comprises of 22 films, a seminar, a Tagore‘s day dance show at Dansens Hus center in Oslo and grand finale which also paid “A Tribute to Kishore Kumar” with great singers Kumar Sanu, Bali, Brahmbhatt, Prem Bhatia and others. week full of entertainment for everyone who witnessed the spirit of the festival. The 50 member Norwegian orchestral band and Oslo Janisitjar welcomed the guests with bollywood tunes at the red carpet show . The festival Opening ceremony was attended by Mayor Åge Tovan, Siv Jensen, Gry Larsen.,H.E Ambassador R.K Tayagi , film stars Sharman Joshi, Prem Chopra and director Prakash Jha and other important local and national politicians, in support of the festival. The festival opening marked and observed 1 minute silence in the memory of the victims of 22nd July 2011. The Bollywood festival is now well established and a well known annual event of the cultural calendar of Norway. It is a great platform to promote Lørenskog as a great cultural integration place. There were about 22 film screenings of new and old films. The films attendances were phenomenal with several film screens were sold out. Many multicultural communities walked- in to Lørenskog cultural Hus for the first time and experienced this new centre. People travel from Denmark, Sweden, Stavanger and many parts of Scandinavia to attend this festival. Bollywood dance show was the other major eye candy show with over whelming audience from all nationalities and showcased as the main feature of the festival. The classical Indian dance group from Kirti Kala Mandir, Mumbai and Aasma Bollywood dance group from India performed throughout the festival at various venues and also attended a workshop at the community Centre. Another group from Norway itself which is “Norwegian Opera &Ballet dance group” memorized the audience along with all other shows with their amazing ballet dance performance . In conclusion, I should emphasize that the outcome of the whole festival was very well received and succeeded in this year as well.. The festival opening film was latest blockbuster movie Aarakshan (reservations). The directors Mr. Prakash Jha attended the screening and introduce the film to the audience. He gave a master class with the local Norwegian film director Ulrik Imtiaz Rofsen and the lively stimulating discussion with the audience next day. Nasrullah Qureshi, director of the festival did the best of his work in promoting harmony and peace through cultures of the cinema and dances of Indian subcontinents. Local TV news press along with film journalists and Sony TV from UK covered the festival.

Honorary Bollywood Festival Norway awards 201

Mr. Rajat Rawail got his first “Debut actor award for film Bodyguard” from Mayor Åge Toven. Actor Mr. Sharman Joshi got “the honory award” from H.E Ambassador Mr. RK Tayagi. The opening film Aarakshan got it very first award, and it was present to Mr. Prakash Jha by MS Siv Jensen, Leader of progress party. Mr. Prem Chopra was honored with “Life time achievement award” from MS Gry Larsen, Secretary Ministry of foreign affair Norway. Mr. Kumar Sanu was honored with ”Bollywood Festival award” for his contribution to music in Indian cinema and the beautiful Tribute to Kishore Kumar in the concert at Cosmopolite in Oslo at finale of the festival. The award was present by festival director Nasrullah Qureshi. WeNext year Bollywood festival is going to celebrate its 10th anniversary, will stepping into new directions of cultural exchange and creating the right platform for that exchange through these 10 years. Hopefully, next year celebrations are going to be one of the amazing events in Norway. Thanks to all friends from the Indian film industry and festival team with their support we were successful in making this event a memorable one in Norway.