Lifetime Achievement Award For Kamal Hassan

South superstar Kamal Hassan, who is well known to his fans as Ullaganayangan (Universal Star) will be felicitated with Lifetime achievement award with acclaimed French filmmaker Costa Gavras at the 15th edition of Mumbai Film Festival.

Mumbai Film Festival, an initiative of the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), starts from Oct 17 and over 200 films from 65 countries will be screened at the eight-day festival.

"Kamal Hassan is a legend in every sense of the term. He is a writer, singer, director, lyricist and an actor par-excellence. We are extremely honoured to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Kamal Haasan," Shyam Benegal, chairman, MAMI, said in a statement.

Kamal Haasan has recently completed 50 years in the industry and he has over 190 films to his credit, across genres and languages like Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. He is best known for his performances in films like Moondram Pirai, Nayagan, Pushpaka Vimana, Appu Raja and Hey Ram.

Benegal added, "We are also honoured to confer the Lifetime Achievement Award for Costa-Gavras. His films have been loved and celebrated by millions of cinema lovers worldwide. We are humbled that he has agreed to receive this award."

Academy Award-winner Costa-Gavras is known for his political thrillers like Z, Missing, The Little Apocalypse and Amen. Gavras has also been conferred with the title of French knighthood. He has been on the jury of various film festivals and has won numerous international film awards.

IANS