New Zealand's first Indian film festival to open with restored Teesri Kasam

New Zealand is set to host its first dedicated Indian film festival, a three-day event spanning three cities and promising 30 screenings. The inaugural edition will feature 10 feature films, 16 shorts, and four special screenings, alongside industry panels, post-screening Q&As, networking sessions, and an awards evening.

The festival will showcase the linguistic diversity of Indian cinema, with films in 11 languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, and Nepali, among others. A silent film is also part of the lineup.

A key focus of this year's edition is celebrating restored classics. The opening film is Teesri Kasam, recently restored by the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) and NFDC. Legendary actress Waheeda Rehman, who stars in the film alongside Raj Kapoor, will attend the opening night screening on October 22. The festival will honor her contribution to Indian cinema.

Rehman expressed delight at the festival's mission, noting that cinema has the power to bring people and cultures closer. She said she was especially pleased that Teesri Kasam, a film close to her heart, would open the festival and introduce its timeless story to a new generation.

The festival will close with Pakeezah, the 1972 classic restored by the Film Heritage Foundation. Festival director Petrina D’Rozario said the foundation's founder, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, provided the film for New Zealand audiences. This screening will make the festival only the second in the world to show the restored version.

D’Rozario described the festival as a bridge between India and New Zealand, aiming to help local audiences discover India and its stories. She emphasized that the event is about bringing people, cultures, and languages together through cinema. The festival is intended as an annual platform to foster collaboration and cultural exchange between the screen industries of both countries.