On the occasion of World AIDS Day, four short films on HIV-AIDS, made by veteran directors Mira Nair, Santosh Sivan, Farhan Akhtar and Vishal Bhardwaj, will be screened for federal lawmakers on December, 1.
The movies will be entertaining films, spreading awareness about the disease. These four films, made by well known-directors and starring popular actors Shiney Ahuja, Shabana Azmi, Irrfan Khan, Prabhu Deva, Sameera Reddy, Raima Sen and Saroja Devi, would be racy entertainers so that the viewers don’t get bored watching them and at the same time, they carry home an important message.
The films will be released on the video-sharing website YouTube in February after making their debut on local television. They will also be screened in theatres before full length feature films starring well-known actors.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funded the four movies as part of its Indian HIV/AIDS initiative called Avahan. India has about 2.5 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS. Mira Nair feels that movies are the best means of spreading awareness about the disease.
The four films, together called AIDS Jaggo (AIDS awake), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival held between September 6 to 15. They were also screened at the 38th International Film Festival of India held in Goa this week.
