Honesty is important in music: Enoch Daniels

Manoj Kumar, Daniels honoured with PIFF Distinguished Award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema at Inaugural Ceremony

Usha Mangeshkar also honoured with S.D Burman International Award for Creative Music and Sound

 "Honesty is important in music, one has to be honest. We should be our own judge and then we should present before the audience, this is my personal experience," 94-year-old eminent music arranger Enoch Daniels said.

Enoch Daniels was speaking after being honoured with the PIFF Distinguished Award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema during the inauguration ceremony of the 21st Pune International Film Festival (PIFF), jointly organized by Pune Film Foundation and Maharashtra Government, on Thursday at the Theatre Academy's Sakal Lalit Kalaghar in Mukund Nagar.

The Festival is celebrating the theme 'Celebrating 75 years of Independence with Cinema'.

Renowned Actor, Director and Producer, Manoj Kumar was also honoured with the PIFF Distinguished Award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian  Cinema. Maharashtra Cultural Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and Dr Jabbar Patel honoured Manoj Kumar at his residence in Mumbai.

Renowned Singer Usha Mangeshkar was honoured with the prestigious S.D. Burman International Award for Creative Music and Sound during the inaugural function.

Manoj Kumar in his video address thanked the organisers for bestowing him with the Award.

Usha Mangeshkar thanked the Jury for selecting her and especially Dr Jabbar Patel, whom she worked in Marathi movie "Jait Re Jait".

Shravan Hardikar, Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps, Dr Avinash Dhakane, Managing Director, Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation Limited, Pune Film Foundation President and PIFF Director Dr. Jabbar Patel, Trustee, Pune Film Foundation Dr Mohan Agashe, Pune Flim Foundation Treasurer Rajendra Kelshikar, PIFF Creative Director Samar Nakhate were present on the occasion.

The Jury members – Dominik Locher, Jacqueliene Lentzou, Khairy Beshara, Kim Dong, Mahesh Narayan, Marita Hallfors, P Sheshadri, Stig Bjorkman, were also felicitated.

Editor A Sreekar Prasad and Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi were felicitated on the occasion.

The Festival Catalogue was unveiled by the dignitaries.

Dr Jabbar Patel said,“I am happy to announce that 187 films will be shown in 9 theatres in seven days. We have World and Marathi competition. We also have a documentary and animation section."

There were performances of National Award Winner Vocalist, Rahul Deshpande and Playback Singer, Priyanka Barve, who depicted the musical journey of 75 years of Indian Cinema. Sharvari Jamenis enthralled the audience with her dance performance, along with her group.

The Iranian film ‘Holy Spider’ directed by Iranian filmmaker, Ali Abbasi was shown after the inauguration ceremony as the opening film. The movies will be screened at PVR Icon, Senapati Bapat Road and INOX Bundgarden.

The inaugural function was moderated by Angad Patwardhan and Rutuja Ingale, while Dr Avinash Dhakane expressed the vote of thanks.