Indian stars to walk the red carpet at Diff

THE Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) takes place from Dec.9-16 and as in years past, Indian artists will descend on the city with the best films of the year.

Powerhouse director Mira Nair's ensemble film AIDS Jaago will bring Indian cinematic talents to the Diff gala red carpet. In a joint effort between Nair's Mirabai films and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nair recruited four of India's directors to each helm a short narrative film about HIV/AIDS.

Nair's segment, Migration, stars Shiney Ahuja, Raima Sen, Sameera Reddy and Irfan Khan. Both Nair and Raima Sen will be at Diff to celebrate the film's screening, as will Farhan Akhtar, who directed the segment called Positive. Akhtar, who made last year's blockbuster Don with Shah Rukh Khan, is one of Mumbai's most prominent directors.

Internationally acclaimed director and cinematographer Santosh Sivan brings both Parambha, one of the AIDS Jaago shorts, and Before the Rains, set in India in the 1930's against the backdrop of the growing nationalist movement.

The film stars rugby player cum social activitist and arthouse actor, Rahul Bose in a conflict of loyalties between his village and his British boss. Bose is also confirmed to grace the Diff proceedings.

Naseeruddin Shah will bring the World Premiere of his latest starrer, Shoot on Sight, a taut thriller in which he plays a Scotland yard inspector with divided loyalties investigating a fatal police shooting of an alleged terrorist. Co-star Laila Rouass will appear by Shah's side to promote the film.

From Kerala, master director Adoor Gopalakrishnan and his leading actress, South Indian star Padma Priya will be on hand for the screening of four women, about the issue of matrimony in the lives of four women from different social classes.

The revised international director's cut of Taj Mahal will bring the great Kabir Bedi and ex-super model Pooja Batra, who star as Shah Jahan and his wife in the sprawling epic, one of the most expensive films ever to be made in India. Co-star Manisha Koirala will also be present at Diff, where the audience will be the first in the world to see the Director's Cut, introduced and discussed by Bedi himself with director Akbar Khan.

Another veteran star, Mithun Chakraborty (Guru, Dil Diya Hai), will attend the screening of Story of the Red Hills, in which he plays a broken-hearted Bengali Chhou dancer who finds a new lease on life through launching a dance ensemble.