Based on the Kannada novella of the same name by noted writer Kum Veerabhadrappa, the film, which won the 2011 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada, is about a government employee, Anand Rao, on the verge of retirement, whose striking resemblance to Mahatma Gandhi helps him bag a role in a TV serial. Needing to brush up his knowledge of the Mahatma for the role, he embarks on an inner journey to rediscover himself.
As his past deeds haunt him and he feels guilty, he draws a parallel with Gandhi's life, especially with respect to his relationship with his son, and the way he ignored his wife.
Byari, which shared the 59th National Award for Best Film with Umesh Kulkarni's Marathi film Deool this year, revolves around the conditioning of women in the Byari Muslim community based on sexuality.
It depicts the culture, tradition and language of the Byari community highlighting the strict laws and regulations of marriage in the community and how they affect women.
The feature films were selected by a ten-member selection committee headed by Bengali auteur Buddhadeb Dasgupta comprising directors like Suresh Krissna, Katte Ramachandra and Sibi Malayil among others.
Besides Kasarvalli's Kannada film, the Indian Panorama will see three Bengali, five Malayalam, three Marathi, one each from Assamese, Bhojpuri, Byari, English, Konkani, Punjabi and Tamil languages.
The other national award-winning feature films that will be on show include Assamese director Jahnu Baru's Baandhon, Kaushik Ganguly's Shabdo, Rituparno Ghosh's Chitrangada, Bappaditya Bandopadhyay's Elar char Adhyay, Nitin Chandra's Deswa, Unni Vijayan's Lessons in Forgetting, Priya Krishnaswami's Gangoobai, K M Kamal's I.D., Dnyanesh Moghe's Digant, Dr Biju's Akashathinte Niram, T V Chandran's Bhoomiyude Avakasikal, Madhupal's Ozhimuri, K Gopinathan's Ithramaathram, Anjali Menon's Manjadikuru, Sumitra Bhave & Sunil Sukthankar's Samhita, Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni's Deool, Gurvinder Singh's Anhey Ghorey Da Dan and A Sarkunam's Vaagai Sooda Vaa.
Oscar award-winning director Ang Lee's 3D film Life Of Pi will flag off the 11-day fest and Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist will bring the curtains down on IFFI 2012.
Based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Yann Martel, Life Of Pi is a fantasy-adventure film about a young boy adrift in the Pacific Ocean for more than 200 days with a Bengal tiger, while Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an adaptation of Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid's novel of the same name.
The festival will also celebrate 100 years of Indiancinema.
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