MUMBAI: The cultural wing of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Andheri is organising a seven day festival of black and white Gujarati films from 3 to 9 April at the campus auditorium to mark the completion of 75 years of Gujarati cinema.

The first ever Gujarati talkie Narsinh Mehta was released at the then West End Cinema, Mumbai (where Naaz stands today) on 9 April 1932.

Says Niranjan Mehta, one of the organisers of Bhavan’s Cultural Centre, Andheri, “Every evening, a black and white film from the golden era will be screened. There will also be a get-together of those associated with Gujarati cinema (producers, artistes, technicians) from the present and the past. On 2 April 2007, we will have a conference where we will screen a documentary made by the Gujarat government. We will also show the trailers of the selected films for the screening. We are planning to invite veteran actor – director Krishnakant from Surat as the guest of honour.”