Rani Mukerji hoists Indian flag, Love Sonia screened on first day of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne

After kicking off the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne with a press conference attended by various Bollywood personalities including Rajkumar Hirani , Freida Pinto , Vicky Kaushal; day one began with Rani Mukerji hoisting the Indian Tiranga at the iconic Federation Square. The ceremony saw Daniel Andrews, the Premier of Victoria, and excess of 10,000 Bollywood fans coming together. Rani spoke of the honour and thanked the festival organisers for the opportunity. She also mentioned her father  — “I most remember the patriotic song from my father’s film Hum Hindustani, ‘Chodo kal Ki Batein’. I really miss him here today.” [caption id=“attachment_4944471” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Rani Mukerji hoisting the national flag.[/caption] Tabrez Noorani’s Love Sonia  starring Manoj Bajpayee, Freida Pinto, Mrunal Thakur and Richa Chadha was also screened. Talking about the film, director Tabrez Noorani mentioned: “I feel for us after this movie if we one girl gets saved, it’s a great achievement for us.” Inspired by true events, Love Sonia is a shocking story of a young Indian village girl whose life is tumultuously and irrevocably changed when she gets entrapped in the global sex trade while trying to save the one person she is closest to, her sister Sonia. [caption id=“attachment_4944491” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Love Sonia team Mrunal Thakur, Richa Chadha, Tabrez Noorani and Freida Pinto.[/caption] Rani Mukerji and Vicky Kaushal were also seen dancing to Slumdog Millionaire’s song ‘Jai Ho’ with the kids from Emotion 21, a dance company which supports children who down syndrome but love to shake a leg. [caption id=“attachment_4944511” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Rani Mukerji and Vicky Kaushal with the kids from Emotional 21[/caption] Other highlights included a Bollywood Dance Competition, judged by Malaika Arora , Nikkhil Advani and Avtar Panesar, Yash Raj Films’ Vice President of International Operations. [caption id=“attachment_4944521” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Malaika Arora Khan and Avtar Panesar judging Bollywood dance competition[/caption] The  Indian Film Festival of Melbourne , which celebrates richness and diversity of contemporary Indian cinema, has officially begun on 10 August and will conclude on 22 August.