IFFI 2019: Rajinikanth poses with wife as he receives Icon of Golden Jubilee Award

It was a full house yesterday at the opening ceremony of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa as Rajinikanth and Amitabh Bachchan made way to the red carpet welcome. Now running in its 50th year, IFFI is celebrating its golden jubilee as it brought celebrities from all over the world to witness the coming together of ideas and cinemas. 

At the opening ceremony, legendary actor Rajinikanth was given the Icon of Golden Jubilee Award as Amitabh Bachchan, Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant, and Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar looked on.

After receiving the award, Rajinikanth posed on the stage with his wife who was also there to cheer him. He got a standing ovation from the audience while receiving the award.  

While accepting the award, Rajinikanth said, "The honourable Chief Minister of Goa, honourable minister Prakash Javadekar ji, my inspiration Amitabh Bachchan ji, good evening to everybody. I am extremely happy to receive this prestigious International Film Festival of India's Golden Jubilee Icon award. My heartfelt thanks to Indian government for honouring me with this prestigious award and I dedicate this award to all my producers, directors and all the technicians who worked in that realm."

Another thing that we couldn't help but notice at IFFI 2019 was the warmth between Rajinikanth and Amitabh Bachchan as the two embraced each other when they met on the red carpet. Pictures of the same have been floating on the internet. See for yourself:

IFFI 2019 commenced from November 20 and will go on till November 28. It will showcase close to 200 films, Indian and non-Indian.