Twelve films – six from India and Pakistan each – are being featured every Friday on a weekly basis at the Zee5 Film Festival launched on August 24. This insight resonates with Zee’s philosophy of ‘Extraordinary Together’ that will redefine the boundaries of entertainment.
Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, Zee5 India, said, “Our objective to host the Zee5 Film Festival stemmed from the interest we have seen among our viewers for content that spurs them to think and have an engaging conversation. This is also the perfect mix for our audience that appreciates such world-class entertainment that is not easily available. The festival, which started from August 24 and will end on November 9, will release one film every Friday, giving viewers the opportunity to make it their weekend movie fix with a though-provoking watch. In 12 weeks, there will be 12 premieres. The movies have been created by acclaimed directors with well-known actors and definitely have the power to influence and change mindset across the globe.”
The idea is to bring together creative thought leaders from India and Pakistan. Critically acclaimed films by award-winning directors such as Aparna Sen, Bejoy Nambiar, Ketan Mehta, Tanuja Chandra, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Khalid Ahmad, Mehreen Jabbar and others and actors like Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah, Vinay Pathak, Amit Sadh, Taapsee Pannu, Kartik Aryan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Sara Haider, Faisal Qureshi will be shown.
The festival will host an exclusive screening with the cast for Zee5 subscribers every week at The Cuckoo Club.
The opening movie for the festival was ‘Toba Tek Singh’, the Ketan Mehta directed and Pankaj Kapur, Vinay Pathak starrer, an adaptation of Manto’s novel by the same name. It captures the story of a mental asylum where friendship extends beyond the ties of religion in the aftermath of the Indo-Pak partition; it delves deeper into the pain of separation from the people you love and place you call home.
Director Mehta said, “I am delighted to be part of the Zee5 Film Festival. It is definitely a brilliant initiative showcasing thought-provoking films from India and Pakistan to the audience through an OTT platform and a film festival format. I do hope the movie is able to spark conversations about the topic and hopefully we are able to jointly prompt the next generation towards a better tomorrow.”
Pankaj Kapur said, “Digital platforms are bringing to the fore much-needed discussions around topics that are still a taboo for traditional screens. We are proud to be a part of the Zee5 Film Festival which goes beyond the national barriers and features films created by award-winning directors and actors discussing important issues.”
Zee5 Film Festival line-up
Movie |
Director |
Actors |
Country |
Toba Tek Singh |
Ketan Mehta |
Pankaj Kapur, Vinay Pathak |
India |
Baarish Aur Chowein |
Tigmanshu Dhulia |
Taapsee Pannu, Amit Sadh |
India |
Silvat |
Tanuja Chandra |
Kartik Aryan, Meher Mistry |
India |
Guddu Engiineer |
Nikhil Advani |
Prabudh Dyma, Pranati Ghogare |
India |
Dobaara |
Bejoy Nambiar |
Manav Kaul, Parvathy Omanakuttan |
India |
Saari Raat |
Aparna Sen |
Konkana Sen Sharma, Ritwik Chakraborty, Anjan Dutt |
India |
Jeewan Hathi |
Meenu & Farjad |
Naseeruddin Shah, Adnan Jaffar, Samiya Mumtaz, Hina Dilpazeer |
Pakistan |
Moomal Rano |
Siraj-Ul-Haq |
Saba Qamar, Ahsan Khan |
Pakistan |
Lala Begum |
Mehreen Jabbar |
Marina Khan, Humayun Sayeed, Sonia Rehman Qureshi |
Pakistan |
Chotay Shah |
Sabiha Sumar |
Adnan Jaffar, Naveed Shehzad, Tara Mahmood |
Pakistan |
Laloolal.Com |
Khalid Ahmad |
Faysal Qureshi, Natasha Portess |
Pakistan |
Khaemae Main Matt Jhankain |
Shahbaz Sumar |
Hassan Abbas, Aara Haider |
Pakistan |
Zee5 is the new digital entertainment destination launched by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL). With content across 12 languages like English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Punjabi, Zee5 is home to 1 lakh+ hours of on-demand content and 90+ live TV channels.