Dates: 1-5 July 2016
Venue: Sirifort Auditorium- Audi 2-3-4

Entry: From gate no. 4
Free Parking: Available in and around the venue
Nearest Metro Station: Green Park (Yellow line)
Timings: Starts at 10.45 am and go on till late night
Cost: Free (but tickets required to enter the auditoriums)
Tickets: Available for free at the venue after basic registration
Movies: Upto 4 tickets per person
Language: Various (Indian and International) with English Subtitles
What else: Bags, food and water bottles not allowed inside the auditoriums. Carry a photo ID card.

Film festivals in Delhi are akin to Diwali for movie buffs like us. Most of these festivals bring offbeat films, goldies from yester years, National awarded films as well as regional Indian cinema that we would have missed otherwise. Despite the busy schedules  and the struggle to get the tickets/passes we somehow manage  to watch a few movies every year, be it India Habitat Film Festival or Osian’s Cinefan featuring Asian and Arab films. 7th Jagran Film Festival is being held at Sirifort Auditorium in Delhi. Organised by Jagran Prakashan (House of Dainik Jagran Newspaper), this festival is showcasing several national and international films in various languages across multiple cities of India.

What we watched at Jagran Film Festival 2016

We managed to watch two films from the festival this Sunday – “Silvat” in Hindi and “Vaisakhi List” in Punjabi. The schedule is listed online at www.jagranfilmfestival.co.in and on flyers as well as hoardings inside the venue.

Not just films…

Sirifort has multiple auditoriums and at a given time 2-3 movies are being screened concurrently. Along with the movies, there are discussions, film journalism workshops, seminars and meet the director sessions as well. Toba Tek Singh  which we saw as a play sometime back is now a movie with Pankaj Kapoor in the lead role. Directed by Ketan Mehta, this is the inaugurating film for this year’s Jagran Film Festival.

The range of movies being screened is quite versatile. There are popular commercial films like Airlift and Neerja and then there are offbeat critically acclaimed films like Aligarh and Shatranj Ke Khiladi as well. Some films are also showcased as part of V Shantaram and Naseeruddin Shah retrospective. Short films are also being screened under Jagran Shorts category.

Despite the rescheduling, delay in starting and other technical glitches, Jagran Film Festival  is a must watch for Delhi movie enthusiasts.