MAMI Mumbai Film Festival cancelled for 2025, Hansal Mehta Calls It "cruel irony"

Hansal Mehta reacts to MAMI cancellation

The 2025 MAMI Mumbai Film Festival has been formally cancelled, which is a sad development for moviegoers. The festival's organisers made the announcement in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), creating a gap in the city's cultural schedule.

Widely considered a distinguished venue honouring Indian and international cinema, the festival's sudden cancellation has caused a wave of dissatisfaction, especially from celebrated director Hansal Mehta.

Hansal took to Instagram to share the official communication, which stated: "This is to inform you that the 2025 edition of MAMI Mumbai Film Festival will not take place as we are in the process of revamping the festival with a dynamic vision and a new team to ensure that the festival returns as a premier showcase for the best of independent, regional and classic cinema from Indian and around the world."

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A post shared by Hansal Mehta (@hansalmehta)

The statement further added: "We are working diligently to reschedule the festival and will announce the new dates for the 2026 edition as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding and support."

Mehta did not hold back his emotions, describing the cancellation as a major cultural loss. He wrote: "It's a cruel irony that Mumbai draped in the glitz of being India's financial and cinematic capital cannot keep alive a film festival of its own..." His words underlined the neglect the festival faced, calling out those who once supported it only to later abandon it in pursuit of “shinier stages and safer bets”.

He went on: "No ceremony. No outrage. Just a slow, silent forgetting. What should have been a cultural cornerstone has been reduced to a footnote - another casualty of apathy dressed as progress."

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Filmmaker Onir also expressed his sorrow, stating: "Heartbreaking that the industry that produces the largest number of films … failed to nurture this space that celebrated cinema as a form of art … beyond box office and stars..."

MAMI, which was established in 1997 by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, has been instrumental in promoting high-quality cinema.

Over the years, with support from celebrities like Kiran Rao, Priyanka Chopra, and Aamir Khan, the festival has played a significant role in advancing meaningful cinema.