Chennai, Aug 9 (IANS): Actress Tamannaah Bhatia, a classically trained dancer whose dancing skills are well known, will be one of the judges at the Bollywood dance competition that is to take place as part of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM). Dancers from Fiji, Australia and New Zealand among others will be taking part in this competition, which the IFFM has been organising over the years. The idea of it was born after seeing the fondness for Bollywood dance across the globe. The organisers have been getting registrations from across the globe for this competition.
The actor will be joined by the present Miss Australia, Miss Kristen Wright, in co-judging the competition. "I have been a dancer all my life. Bollywood dance is something that I grew up with and our movie industry shows such a versatile culture it is even reflected in our dance choreographies. We all know Bollywood has a fan following beyond India. And what makes this competition so special is people from across the globe are coming to take part in this competition," says Tamannaah. She also adds, "I am really thankful to IFFM for giving me this opportunity to be part of this competition.
"The 13th edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2022 programme was officially launched by festival director Mitu Bhowmick Lange at the Indian Consulate of Melbourne. Mitu says, "Indian movies have always had a huge fan following in Australia. The country is a powerhouse of talent and has given some of the most extremely talented artists in the world. Bollywood music and dance is an independent genre in itself and people are just waiting for a platform to express their talent and are providing that platform. And this time, we have got Tamannaah to judge the competition and she is a part of Bollywood and Southern India film industries. She has a huge following. It will be a treat for her fans to see her in person."
IFFM will be taking place, physically and virtually, from August 12-20, 2022. After the pandemic, this is the first time it has come with its physical event, since 2020 and 2021 was done virtually. It is one of the biggest Indian film festivals that takes place outside of India and is also the only Indian film festival backed by the Australian government. The film festival will showcase more than 100 critically acclaimed movies. Some of the movies that are lined up for this year's festival are the upcoming Aamir Khan-starrer 'Laal Singh Chaddha', Taapsee Pannu's 'Dobaaraa' and the critically acclaimed 'Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui'.
The event will be hosting some of the big names of Bollywood like Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Vaani Kapoor to name a few.