MUMBAI: The South Asian Film Festival (SAFF) got going in Goa yesterday with the screening of the Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore-starrer Kashmir ki Kali, screened as a special tribute to the late star.

The festival was declared open by Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat in the presence of Randhir Kapoor and Rajeev Kapoor, the scions of Kapoor family among representatives of South Asian Countries who were present at the ceremony.

Randhir Kapoor was felicitated by the state chief secretary Sanjay Srivastava in honour of the contribution of the Kapoor family to Indian Cinema. "Cinema knows no boundaries. Its just an emotion that we create. We should have lot of cultural exchange amongst the south Asian nations," said Kapoor responding to the felicitation.

The festival‘s theme is ‘Dissolving Boundaries‘ - spreading the message of togetherness and oneness amongst the South Asian Countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Bhutan is the focus country for SAFF 2011. The annual festival will also pay tribute to Bangladeshi film maker Tareque Masud who was one of the two prime witnesses of the International War Crime Tribunal. Incidentally, Tareque was killed in a fatal bus accident near Dhaka on 26 August.