The open-to-all yearly festival held by Whistling Woods International was devoted to aspirants in the fields of film, communication, and creative arts. With the theme “Celebrating Cinema, Celebrating 75 Years of Azadi   Ka Amrit Mahotsav Through the Journey of Indian Cinema,” the 10th edition of the festival honored India’s 75th anniversary of independence. The event’s focus this year was on how patriotism is portrayed in Indian cinema and how it unites the country’s viewers.

The platform offered insights into the artistic, technical, and commercial aspects of the media & entertainment industry over the span of 3 days from September 22th to 24th, 2022.

The inaugural ceremony was graced by the team of the film, Karma followed by an interactive panel discussion with Subhash Ghai, Jackie Shroff, Poonam Dhillon, Naseeruddin Shah, and Anjum Rajabali. The team highlighted the value of patriotic fervor and how it should be instilled in pupils during their earliest years of education. They also reflected reflecting on their career path and remembered their happy times filming the movie.

Team Shershaah attended the big fest as well for a masterclass, and they were grateful for the initiative to celebrate cinema that allows anyone to experience, discover, and fall in love with the fantastical world of movies.

Sidharth Malhotra said that it was a wonderful feeling coming back to WWI. The actor still reminisced about the wonderful memories of the acting workshop he pursued here, before the launch of his first film, Student of the Year”. He said that the country needs more schools like WWI to hone talent and help aspirants turn their passion into a profession.

The event also hosted panel discussions with renowned industry professionals like Sidharth Malhotra, Anees Bazmee, Irshad Kamil, Manoj Muntashir, Annu Kapoor, Anjum Rajabali, Rumy Jafry, Sukhwinder Singh, Pavail Gulati, Radhika Apte, Aahana Kumra, Amol Parashar, Rajshri Deshpande, Nitin Baid, Sandeep Shrivastava, Sohel Sanwari, Hitesh Kewalya, Vishnu Varadhan, Divyang Thakkar, Renuka Shahane, Alankrita Shrivastava, Anusha Nandakumar, Paula McGlynn, and Sarang Sathaye amongst others.

WWI conducted specially curated 50+ workshops on Production Design, VR, Character Design & Animation, Theatre Games, Influencer Marketing, Makeup, Mobile Filmmaking, Styling, and many more for the attendees to experience and understand what goes behind the scenes in the media and entertainment industry.

The closing ceremony of Celebrate Cinema 2022, was organized in the presence of Subhash Ghai and ended on a musical note with singer Sukhwinder Singh. In addition, live music gigs by WWI School of Music students were added to the celebrations.

Priyanka Dutta