Actor Anshuman Jha is looking forward to the India premiere of his award-winning film Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain — a "love story for all age groups" — at the Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) on Saturday.
"Angrezi... is the opening night film at JIFF 2018. We feel honoured to open the festival amongst 50 films from 13 countries. Along with producer Manav Malhotra and director Harish Vyas, Shivani Raghuvanshi, Ekavali Khanna and I will be there to represent the film," Jha told the IANS news agency.
"We are happy that people in the Pink City will get a chance to see it first before our film's release later this year. Also, actor Sanjai Mishra is loved by people in Jaipur," he added.
Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain won the Best Feature Film award at HBO's South Asian International Film Festival, New York, last month.
"It's a prestigious festival for the Indian diaspora and we had its world premiere there. Then it got selected at Jaipur International Film festival. Our India premiere at a reputed festival such as JIFF is icing on the cake," he said.
He is positive that the Indian audience will embrace the film.
"It is a 'popular' genre film in terms of its character and will find love in theatres because it will make you feel good. It's a love story for all age groups," he said.
Does screening at film festivals help a movie before its release in theatres?
"Absolutely, especially for independent films as the word-of-mouth generated at festivals acts as a catalyst to the theatrical release," said Jha.