A large variety of Indian Cinema at IFFI-06 brings forth the wide linguistic variety with different visions, perceptions and approaches to the medium. The Festival pays tributes to two greats of Indian cinema Prithviraj Kapoor and Sachin Deb Burman. Prithiviraj Kapoor began his career in the year 1929 and through his large body of work from Do Dhari Talwar, his debut film, to films like Sikander, Mughal-e-Azam and Kal Aaj Aur Kal, whereas Sachin Deb Burman, beginning his career in the year 1937, lent a position of respectability to playback music and made it popular among the masses.

The Festival also pays homage to eleven noted film personalities who passed away last year. These include Nadira (Actress), Naushad Ali (Music Director), Oduvil Unnikrishnan (Actor, Malayalam Cinema), P. Bhanumathi (Actress, Dancer, Director, Writer, Telugu and Tamil Cinema), Padmini (Actress), Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Director), Dr. Raj Kumar (Kannada Actor), Sri Vidya (Tamil Actress), Ustad Bismillah Khan (Shenai Maestro), Parveen Babi (Actress) and Manoj Punj, young Punjabi Film Director.

With a view to bring alive an era of commitment to art house cinema, the Festival presents a retrospective of the great Malayalam film maker Govindan Aravindan who lent a new meaning and dimension to Indian Cinema between the seventies and early nineties. The section opens on 25th November, 2006 with his film Vasthuhara.

This year’s Indian Panorama package opens with Missed Call by Mridul Toolsidass and Vinay Subramanian in the feature film category and ‘And The World Remained Silent’ by Ashoke Pandit in the non feature film category. Both films bring forth contemporary concerns effectively. Film makers like Girish Kasravalli and T V Chandran through their films Nayi Neralu and Aadum Koothu put across their directorial visions in an impressive manner.

The non-feature section also brings forth a wide variety. The student cinema mainly by the students of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, mixed with the vision of veterans like Jabbar Patel, adds colour to the non feature film package of Indian panorama. Surprisingly, there is a large number of biographical films this time in this package, effectively capturing recent history. The Indian Panorama section would be inaugurated on 24th November, 2006 at 11.30 a.m. in INOX Multiplex.

The Indian mainstream cinema is a package of 12 blockbusters across Indian languages. The section would be inaugurated by the renowned actress Sridevi on 25th November, 2006 at kala Academy. Rang de Basanti is the opening film of the section.

Indian premieres at the Festival include films like Yatra by Gautam Ghosh, Kallarali Huvagi (Flower blooms to a stone) Kannada, by T. S. Nagabharna. Glass House (Marathi) directed by Gajendra Ahire brings forth the trauma of a family after the recent Mumbai local trains blasts. Thananam Thananam, directed by Kavitha Lankesh, and Antarnad, directed by the Goan Rajendra Talak are musicals
Rajendra