UNI
 
Chennai, June 9: For the first time, South Indian films will be showcased along with Hindi films at the 2006 IIFA Film Festival to be held as part of the seventh Annual Idea IIFA Awards Weekend in Dubai from June 14 to 17.

Rajnikanth's Tamil blockbuster 'Chandramukhi,' which has broken all records of Indian cinema with a gross earnings of over 2.5 million US dollar overseas, will be the opening film of the festival, Wizcraft International Entertainment Director Sabbas Joseph told a press conference here.

The IIFA film festival would showcase 32 Indian feature films, including 16 Hindi, seven Tamil, four Malayalam and three Telugu films, besides Bengali and Marathi movies.

Acclaimed director Maniratnam's 'Kannathil Muthammittal,' 'Nayakan,' 'Ayutha Ezhuthu,' Cheran's 'Autograph' and Sankar's 'Anniyan' are some of the South Indian films lined up for the festival.

More than 450 delegates from India, including the creme de la creme of Indian cinema and international media, were expected to attend the event which would be watched by a record global television audience of over 400 million people, Mr Jospeh said.

Noted Hindi film director and IIFA Advisory Board Member Ramesh Sippy said the annual event had already become a brand, providing a wonderful platform to showcase Indian cinema to movie buffs across the globe.

The screening of South Indian films had made the event even more bigger, he said and hoped the IFFA would keep growing from strength to strength.

Stating the event gave a phenomenal moral boost to artistes, Actor Madhavan said the South Indian actors met with equal response and enthusiasm from fans during previous editions of IFFA.

The seventh edition of Annual IFFA Weekend was being hosted under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the President of Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman of the Emirates Group.