Salman Khan and Mamata Banerjee at 29th KIFF.
The 29th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) kicked off at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday. The opening ceremony of the film festival saw West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Sonakshi Sinha, Sourav Ganguly and Mahesh Bhatt, among others, in attendance. During his speech, Salman compared Mamata Banerjee’s residence to his own house in Mumbai and explained why he felt jealous of her small house.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Salman said, “When I was invited by Didi to her house, my only thing was, ‘I really want to see if her house is actually that small.’ Is it smaller than my house or not? One day, Anil Kapoor called me to his home. He said, ‘Let’s go to the first floor.’ But there were also four other floors. I think now it has become even bigger. I asked him if he had called me to make me feel jealous of his house. Coming back to Didi, I am jealous that her house is actually smaller than mine.”
He added, “When Shatru sahab (Shatrughan Sinha) comes to my house, he has a big problem that he doesn’t find space to sit. I have one room, one small kitchen and a bedroom, which is very important because we can’t sleep while standing. I am jealous of the fact that how can somebody (Mamata Banerjee), who is in such a position, have a house that is smaller than mine. I don’t wish for a smaller house but she has given me a big complex. It only shows how simple people are and we don’t need that much.”
Anil Kapoor also spoke on the occasion. He said, “Kolkata, for me, is not just a city. It’s a sensory experience. A journey and a treasure trove of memories that have shaped my career and love for cinema.”
