MAMI Mumbai Film Festival Cancelled. Hansal Mehta Calls It "Cruel Irony"

NDTV

7 days ago

The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, a prominent platform for Indian and international cinema, has been cancelled for 2025. The organisers made the announcement in a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday. Filmmaker Hansal Mehta expressed his disappointment over the festival's cancellation.
Hansal Mehta shared the MAMI organisers' official statement on the matter on Instagram, which read, "This is to inform you that the 2025 edition of MAMI Mumbai Film Festival will not take place as we are in the process of revamping the festival with a dynamic vision and a new team to ensure that the festival returns as a premier showcase for the best of independent, regional and classic cinema from Indian and around the world."
It added, "We are working diligently to reschedule the festival and will announce the new dates for the 2026 edition as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding and support."
Hansal Mehta strongly criticised the MAMI Film Festival's cancellation. In the caption, the filmmaker wrote, "It's a cruel irony that Mumbai draped in the glitz of being India's financial and cinematic capital cannot keep alive a film festival of its own. Abandoned by the self-appointed gatekeepers of cinema who chased shinier stages and safer bets it was left in the hands of a few passionate believers to run on pure faith. And now that fragile flame has been snuffed out."
He added, "No ceremony. No outrage. Just a slow, silent forgetting. What should have been a cultural cornerstone has been reduced to a footnote - another casualty of apathy dressed as progress."
Take a look:
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A post shared by Hansal Mehta (@hansalmehta)
Reacting to his post, filmmaker Onir wrote, "Heartbreaking that the industry that produces the largest number of films … failed to nurture this space that celebrated cinema as a form of art … beyond box office and stars. What a loss for the city and a shame for us as an industry."
The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival was launched in 1997 by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), a public trust based in the city. Over the years, stars like Aamir Khan made financial contributions to the festival, while celebrities like Priyanka Chopra and Kiran Rao served as Chairpersons of the event.
In 2023, the festival was sponsored by Jio, but they opted out as title sponsor last year. The 2024 edition of the event was substantially smaller than prior editions.