Deepika Padukone has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI), which conducts the annual MAMI Film Festival. The actress replaces director Kiran Rao.
According to the festival director Anupama Chopra, the Dhobi Ghat director had stepped down as she was beginning work on her new movie. “Kiran Rao had decided to step down (as the chairperson of MAMI) because she wanted to focus on making a movie,” Chopra said, as per a Manorama Online report. Mumbai Mirror reports that Kiran Rao termed it a privilege and a pleasure to have worked with the core team of MAMI.
The appointment of Padukone was a unanimous decision. “We were all thinking through names and everybody felt that Deepika Padukone was the right person. She is a wonderful artiste. Now, she is also a producer,” said Chopra while referring to Padukone producing Meghna Gulzar upcoming film based on the real-life acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.
“She has been part of MAMI. She has been on the board for a few years and has been extremely supportive. So, we all requested her to take the position and she said ‘yes’,” Chopra added.
“Whether the chairperson does mainstream Hindi cinema or does more independent cinema, it doesn’t impact on great movies. These divisions are now very old school…this whole idea of Bollywood, content-driven and art house. You are either making good films or making bad films. She is definitely making good films,” said Chopra.
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Talking about her new responsibility, Deepika Padukone said “It’s an absolute honour and a huge responsibility. I believe in MAMI’s vision and we are committed towards creating a community that cinema lovers and creators of a film passionate nation like ours truly deserve.”
Deepika Padukone was selected by a board comprising of members like Siddharth Roy Kapur, Rohan Sippy, Zoya Akhtar, Kiran Rao and Vikramaditya Motwane.