Happening today in Bengal: KIFF kicks off, BJP Bengal’s in-charge in town

Poland is the spotlight country this year, with 19 Polish films being screened.

The ceremony will feature several dignitaries and special guests. Shatrughan Sinha will declare the festival open, while Sourav Ganguly will light the inauguration lamp.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will preside over the inaugural ceremony, with Arati Mukhopadhyay, Ramesh Sippy, and Sujoy Ghosh attending as special guests.

The festival will also commemorate the birth centenaries of film legends Ritwik Ghatak, Guru Dutt, Santosh Dutta, Raj Khosla, Salil Chowdhury, and Richard Burton.

As a tribute to Ritwik Ghatak, the festival will screen his famous films, including ‘Ayantrik’, ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, ‘Bari Te Palye’, ‘Komal Gandhar’, and ‘Titas Ekti Nadir Nam’.

The film festival will feature a special tribute to the iconic film Sholay, marking its 50th anniversary, with director Ramesh Sippy delivering the Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture.

The KIFF, with its tagline, ‘Cinema Connects The World’  will showcase 215 films from 39 countries, including 185 feature films and 30 short films.

The festival will conclude on November 13.

Union Environment minister to chair BJP meetings

Union Minister and BJP’s Bengal in-charge Bhupender Yadav is set to arrive in Kolkata today to meet party leaders amid the ongoing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls in the state. Yadav is scheduled to visit the Sreerampur district BJP office, after which he will visit the Howrah gramin district party office. The visit assumes significance as the party gears up for the Assembly elections in the state, scheduled to be held early next year.

SIR Day 3: Online enumeration forms from today

The Election Commission (EC) will make available enumeration forms online for voters absent at their residences in the state from Thursday for the SIR process. The window for filling up enumeration forms in the online mode would be found on the new domain of the state’s Chief Electoral Officer’s portal, https://ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in/, as well as on the commission’s app, ECINET, according to officials.

Meanwhile, the two-member EC team will visit Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts to review the ongoing SIR survey. The team is also likely to visit Darjeeling.

Low pressure tapers off, light rains likely

The well-marked low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal has weakened into a regular low-pressure area with light to moderate rainfall expected along the state’s coastal districts, the Met said.

It has forecast light to moderate rainfall for the next two days for south Bengal districts of South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur. Kolkata and neighbouring areas are expected to remain cloudy with a slight increase in humidity levels.

North Bengal districts, including Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, and Cooch Behar, are expected to remain largely dry in the coming days, according to the MeT department.