MUMBAI: The Marathi Film Festival held at Cinemax from 5-10 October came to a close with the felicitation of the prominent celebrities of the Marathi film industry.

The ceremony was an initiative to honour leading directors and producers from the Marathi fraternity that has contributed to regional cinema dedicatedly over the years. Veteran luminaries like Kiran Shantaram, Sandip Kulkarni, Shivendu Agrawal, Rishi Deshpande, K Ravi, Milind Uke and Sachin Parekar were amongst the many who attended this event and were awarded for playing a significant role in the industry.

The six films selected for the festival were Jabardast, Aai Shappath, Rajkaran, Restaurent, Sawli and Jinke Re Jinki and were screened at three Cinemax locations; Versova, Thane and Nasik. All the producers and directors of these films were handed Cinemax trophies designed for the event.

Cinemax India vice president marketing Devang Sampat said, “We hosted the Marathi film festival because we believed that these films are amongst the very best we have in the industry today and they just needed a good platform to showcase their excellent creativity. We were so overwhelmed by their sheer realism and the impact that they created in the minds of the audience, that we couldn’t resist honoring the talent we have in the Marathi film industry. As important players in the entertainment industry today, we realized it is our duty to encourage and promote the Marathi Film industry to ensure that the fraternity will continue to provide us with brilliant films with innovative concepts and issues.”