Panaji: Six Malayalam films have been selected for the Indian Panorama section of the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), to be held here from November 20 to 28.
National award-winning director Shaji N Karun's "Olu" is the opening film. The movie features Shane Nigam and Esther Anil in the lead roles.
Other Malayalam films selected for the features section are "Bhayanakam" (Jayaraj), "Makkana" (Raheem Khader), "Poomaram" (Abrid Shine), "Sudani From Nigeria" (Zakariya) and "Ee.Ma.Yau" (Lijo Jose Pellissery).
The feature film jury of 13 members was headed by acclaimed director and screenwriter Rahul Rawail. Malayalam filmmaker Major Ravi is also part of the jury.
Two Malayalam films have been chosen in the non-feature category. They are "Sword of Liberty" by Shiny Jacob Benjamin and "Midnight Run" by Remya Raj. The seven-member non-feature jury was headed by director and editor Vinod Ganatra.
From Tamil, four films including Mammootty-starrer Peranbu, directed by Ram, have been picked in the features category. The other three are "To Let" (Chezhiyan Ra), "Baaram" (Priya Krishnaswamy) and "Periyerum Perumal BA.BL" (Mari Selvaraj).
Interestingly, Mammootty's son and Malayalam youth icon Dulquer Salmaan will also be part of the Indian Panorama as his Telugu film "Mahanati" has also been selected. The film directed by Nagashwin has Keerthy Suresh in the lead role.
Malayalam film "Take Off" had won the Special Jury Award at the previous edition of the IFFI while its lead actress Parvathy Thiruvoth Kottuvatta bagged the Silver Peacock for the Best Actress.
The 2017 edition of the prestigious film festival also witnessed a heated controversy over the decision not to screen Sanalkumar Sasidaharan's movie S Durga" despite the jury selecting it for the Indian Panorama section.
