Yash Chopra Honoured At 4th Pune International Film Festival

The 4th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) 2006 held in Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra (India), bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award to Yash Chopra, recognizing his towering contributions made to film production and direction.

The famous Film star of yesteryears, Shashi Kapoor, who incidentally has appeared in many of Yash Chopra’s films as well, handed over this Lifetime Achievement Award to him.

Yash Chopra in his acceptance speech quoted his favorite Urdu sher, “I had started walking alone towards my destination. People kept joining and the caravan kept forming.” He also expressed his heartfelt thanks to one and all present there, and the visitors applauded him till he went back to his seat. 

Grace personified, Shashi Kapoor said, “I have had the honour today to honour people who are much better than me. I hope I can in my next birth come up to their level.”

The presentation was preceded by a short film based on Yash Chopra’s works, from ‘Dhool Ka Phool’ to ‘Silsila’. But the moment of the day was when Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan confronted each other in a film clip from ‘Deewar’. When Bachchan asks Kapoor, “Tumhare paas kya hai,” almost everyone present in the audience shouted, “Mere pass 

The other recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award this year were the famous Indian film actress Vyjayantimala, and Hollywood cinematographer Victor Kemper. The previous recipients of the Awards include luminaries from the Indian film fraternity like Mrinal Sen, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Lata Mangeshkar, Shakti Samanta & Waheeda Rehman. 

The 4th Pune International Film Festival is being held from 12-19 January 2006, in Pune, featuring over 110 films from 35 countries. The Festival's Chairman Suresh Kalmadi, Member of Parliament, has been the driving force behind the spectacular growth of the Festival, and with the help of the Festival's Director Dr. Jabbar Patel, the Festival is now an internationally recognized event.