FREMONT, CA: The 22nd Festival of India and Parade will be held on August 16 and 17 at 39439 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont, CA. For past 21 years, FIA organized Festival of India has come to symbolize the unity, integrity, culture and best of the things that are hallmark of the Indian community in Bay area. Celebrated over two days, this festival has many popular and well sought after segments such as health fair, grand parade, Bollywood celebrity as Grand Marshal, kids talent programs, cultural programs representing cross section of India and a Mela (fair) that features best of offers for Indian community.
Keeping up with the FIA tradition, Ayushman Khurana, famous Bollywood star of “Vicky Donor” fame and famous TV host will be the Grand Marshal, leading this year’s parade. Esha Deol is the Co-Grand Marshal and Vinod Khanna (1998 Grand Marshal) will attend the parade.
This largest celebration of democracy coincides with India Independence Day and the Celebrations will start with flag hoisting ceremony on August 13th in the city of Milpitas followed by on August 14th in San Jose.
This year’s special feature is star-studded SF Global Movie Fest, to be held on August 15, 16 and 17. FIA is expanding its horizons to include a larger cross section of global community. FIA brings a grand movie festival featuring best of the best short films from all over the globe.
Selected from over thousand movie entries, nominations in the categories of Narrative Short, Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Bay Area Film Initiative, South Asian Panorama will be screened at Towne 3 theaters on all three days. An accomplished jury of Bollywood and Hollywood personalities will select the winners in each category.
On August 15 is the Opening Nite Gala. There will be a press conference at 6 pm at California Theater in San Jose followed by standup comedy by Hollywood Comedian Eddie Griffin, multicultural performances, and a Fashion Show. Many dignitaries, ambassadors, movie actors, producers and directors will be attending. From 9 pm to11 pm there will be world premiere of movie “Last Supper”. Josh Meyers, Robin Bhatt, Barkha Roy, Rahat Kazmi are some of the other celebrities attending the event.
On August 16th, there will be world premiere of the movie “Identity Card” from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm in Towne 3 theaters in San Jose. August 17 will be award night to be held in San Jose Garden Hotel.
FIA Convener and President Dr Romesh Japra said, “The “Festival of India represents our Indian heritage.
Being held for the past 21 years, it brings out the best of Indian culture, art and values. It has become a tradition that will continue for decades to come and bind all Bay Area Indians together. Transcending from national and Indian cultural integration, this year’s Global Movie Fest aims to bring like-minded global citizens together in sharing and strengthening cultural bonds that propels us to unite and work together to prosper and grow.”
Rajesh Verma (Chairman and Event Coordinator) said, “21st Festival of India and Parade celebrations are poised to be bigger and broader than before. There is tremendous zeal and enthusiasm among the volunteers and community to take the Festival to the next level.”
Deepak Chhabra (Chair – Parade) said, “The Parade continues to be the main attraction of Festival of India every year. There is renewed interest, enthusiasm and participation from various parts of community in making the parade a grand success. We are planning to increase the number of floats significantly and leave an indelible impression of rich Indian culture this year.”
Ritu Maheshwari (Chair-Media Relations) said, “This year a special media lounge is being created, where representatives from different news outlets can comfortably participate, watch and cover the festival. Free media passes and access will be provided for the Festival as well as to key segments of the events.”
Visit www.fiaonline.org for more details and parade route for 2014. Tickets can be purchased at sulekha.com/FIA. More information is available at www.sfmoviefest.com for SF Global movie Fest movie screenings.
Given above events, this year’s Festival of India is turning out to be a global event. FIA invites everyone to come together and make this a grand success.
Ritu Maheshwari
India Post News Service
