Mumbai: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation festival will commence on Saturday with the world premiere of the Tamil film Appatha. The film is directed by Padma awardee filmmaker Priyadarshan while Jio Studios and Wide Angle Creations are co-producers.

The film features actor Urvashi in the lead role and will be benchmarked as her 700th film and 51 years in the Indian film industry. Director Priyadarshan has reunited with veteran actress Urvashi after 28 years, post the film Midhunam in 1993.

On Appatha opening at the festival, union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur said, “India’s goal of organising the festival is to showcase the diversity of films and various styles of film making from from the SCO region. We also aim to build cinematic partnerships, have exchange programmes, nurture young filmmaking talent and act as a bridge between the cultures of this unique region. We are delighted to commence the festival with the world premiere of Priyadarshan’s film Appatha. It is a touching story of love and our bond with our pets.”

Sharing his delight at the film opening the festival, Appatha director Priyadarshan said, “We are honoured Appatha has been selected as the opening film on this prestigious occasion. I would like to thank my producers Jio Studios and Wide Angle Creations for bringing this simple and lovely story to me. It has been a pleasure collaborating on this film and wonderful to be working with a phenomenal talent like Urvashi on her milestone 700th film. Appatha is different from anything I have attempted earlier and I am looking forward to seeing how the audience reacts to it.”