Overview
- At the MGM campus in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, the 11th Ajanta–Ellora International Film Festival opened with Ilaiyaraaja receiving the Padmapani Award from AIFF chair Nandkishore Kagliwal, MGM chancellor Ankushrao Kadam and Oscar winner Resul Pookutty.
- Organisers conducted a restrained inauguration and observed a two-minute silence to honor the late Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
- Ilaiyaraaja said, “I don’t know music,” adding that this outlook keeps him working, shortly after completing the background score for his 1,541st film.
- He reaffirmed his preference for live orchestras, saying he writes notations for every instrument and that emotion is best conveyed through live players rather than electronics.
- Festival screenings began at INOX Prozone across four theatres with the Spanish film Sirat, and a panel on the changing face of Marathi cinema features Rohan Kanawade, Ashish Bende and Tanmayee Dev moderated by Namrata Phalke.