18th JIO MAMI MUMBAI FILM FESTIVAL with STAR 2016 – the Star-struck Moments!
written by Souranath Banerjee
To engage and communicate with the film buffs of our country Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival for the last few years has been 
including multiple interactive sessions and events that make the overall experience of the film festival all the more interesting!
So here are some of the best events of this year!
MOVIE MELA:
Jio MAMI Movie Mela with Star ended on a high note with three panel discussions and up close and personal chats with some of the most celebrated names in the Indian film industry.
Panel One: VR discussion with Gabo Arora, Raja Koduri, Anand 
Gandhi and moderator Shakun Batra pondered upon current usage of virtual reality.
Panel Two: In conversation with Directors – Rohit Shetty, Zoya Akhtar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Gauri Shinde and Shoojit Sircar, moderated by film critic Rajeev Masand and Jio MAMI with Star, Festival Director Anupama Chopra.
Panel Three: Actor Shahid Kapoor in conversation with Rajeev Masand and Anupama Chopra about his journey in the industry so far.
PLAY SECTION ON WEB SERIES
Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star had an exciting day at PLAY, the youngest section which celebrates the digital narrative through the best of web series of India.
Panel one: The Writers Panel saw some interesting insights on how the web series content is driven to the young audience and how 
writers want to connect to the youth of India because television as a medium has nothing for them. This panel had Sumeet Vyas (TVF- Permanent Rommates & Tripling), Nidhi Bisht (TVF), Sattvik Mishra (ScoopWhoop), Varun Grover (Writer), Preetika Chawla (Actor-Producer), Naveen Richard (Writer-Actor) in conversation with Shreevasta Nevatia.
Panel two: The Business Panel had some industry experts talking about the business of web series and how profitable the model is? This panel included Sameer Saxena (TVF Originals), Anand Tiwari (Actor-Writer), Rohan Sippy (Producer), Ashish Patil (Y-Films), Samir Nair (Balaji Telefilms) and Swara Bhaskar (Actor) in 
conversation with curator Nikhil Taneja.
The Best of PLAY saw the team of TVF Permanent Roommates, TVF Tripling, Y-Films Sex chat with Pappu and Pappa, Not Fit by Dice Media and many more.
PLAY also world premiered some of the web series which included Little things (Pocket Aces), NRI (OML), Qisson ka Kona (OML), Ramsay Reloaded (101 India), Sneh (ScoopWhoop) and Yes Kaneez (OML).
SPECIAL SCREENING FOR THE UNDER PRIVILEGED YOUTH OF THE COUNTRY
Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star, in association with Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), presented a special 
screening for the under privileged youth of the country. Le Reve (Globus), Bandra hosted the screening of ‘Shree Devi Phataka’, directed by Navin Chapade on October 23rd, 2016 for youth from the deprived areas of Mankhurd, Ambujwadi, Jogeshwari, Wadala, Chembur and few other parts of Maharashtra.
WOMEN IN FILM
Day Five at the Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star saw some great sessions for film as well as television audiences.
Starting from the Oxfam and Jio MAMI with Star Women in Film Brunch at JW Marriot saw some powerful like MAMI Chairperson, Kiran Rao, Oxfam head, Nisha Agarwal, Konkana SenSharma, Richa Chaddha, Poonam Dhillon, Ekta Kapoor, Leena Yadav, Deborah 
Young, Maanvi Gagroo, Nidhi Singh and more.
Oxfam discussed Women and Films with Oxfam Head, Nisha Agarwal, Christine Vachon, Leena Yadav, Rucha Pathak, Tala Hadid, Vibha Bakshi, Tillotama Shome and moderator Rahul Bose. The discussion covered topics like the portrayal of women in Indian cinema and how it affects the way we portray their roles in our society.
And then there were some very interesting events to follow:
Television Vertical screened the world premiere of ‘P.O.W.’ The panel included Primetime Emmy Winner Cary Fukunaga, Gideon Raff, Gaurav Banerjee and Nikkhil Advani in conversation with Nikhil Taneja about the changes in the way TV series have evolved over the years.
Mani Kaul’s tour de force, Ahamaq, was on the big screen for the 
first time. Uncut and in its pure form Ahamaq a nostalgic celebration. Present for the screening were cast including Mita Vashisht, Ashish Rajadhyaksha, D Wood, Vikram Joglekar and others.
Remembering Bimal Roy was a special tribute to someone who has a 
big contribution to our entire cinema heritage. Joy Bimal Roy, Jaya Bachchan, Apurva Asrani, Nasreen Munni Kabir, Namrata Joshi in conversation with Rauf Ahmed.
Events and Films, 18th JIO MAMI MUMBAI FILM FESTIVAL with STAR 2016 a heaven for all you Cinema-Lovers. Enjoy!
Photo courtesy: mumbaifilmfest.com
Well, i surely won’t go that far by saying that Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! failed to live up to my expectations but i have to admit that the climax and specially the post-climax melodrama could have been handled better.
Dibakar Banerjee chooses to portray