The 24th edition of the ongoing New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) is set to host a panel discussion between veteran actress Shabana Azmi and filmmaker Mira Nair on Sunday at Theatre 2, Village East by Angelika in New York.

Festival director Aseem Chhabra spoke with IANS from New York and shared that the discussion will be preceded by the screening of ‘Fire’, which starred Shabana and Nandita Das. The screening and the panel discussion will honour Shabana, who has completed 50 years in cinema.

NYIFF is the oldest Indian film festival in North America, focusing mainly on independent films from India.

Aseem told IANS that, with films from across 16 Indian languages this time, the idea is to cover all of India with 49 films.

The festival opened with the film ‘Dear Jassi’, directed by Tarsem Singh. The film is a co-production of companies from India, Canada, and the US. Based on a real-life incident, the film follows the story of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, a Punjabi Canadian woman who faced conflict with her family when she fell in love with and chose to marry a working-class man they did not approve of.

This is the second physical edition of the festival after the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2021 and 2022 editions were held virtually, with the festival returning to its physical form last year.

When asked if there has been a change in the tastes of cinephiles and festival-goers due to the widespread content consumption triggered by OTT platforms, Aseem told IANS that the audience cultivating a taste for masala movies is a very Indian phenomenon, and the diaspora community of festival attendees is still unfazed by the change in taste towards cinema.

He said that the film festival celebrates films that have an essence of India; they can be from India and about India.

The festival is set to close with the Sanya Malhotra-starrer film ‘Mrs’, directed by Arati Kadav. The film is adapted from the acclaimed Malayalam film ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’, starring Nimisha Sajayan. It also stars Nishant Dahiya and Kanwaljit Singh in pivotal roles and presents a captivating account of a woman’s strength and resilience.