Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg inaugurated The 13th Bollywood Festival Norway in Lillestrøm, Norway, recently. She was accompanied by the Ambassador of India in Norway, Air Chief Marshal N. A. K. Browne, apart from Indians, Asians and Norwegians in large numbers.

The Prime Minister awarded Bollywood badman Gulshan Grover, filmmaker & CEO Wave Cinemas Rahul Mittra & erstwhile Chairman of Reliance Entertainment & noted lyricist/producer Amit Khanna for their contribution to Indian Cinema. This was the third consecutive award for Mittra who had earlier won Best producer award for his film 'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster', followed by most path breaking producer award for his film 'Revolver Rani'.

Other guests included actress Gracy Singh, ARY TV Network CEO Salman Iqbal, Lorenskog Mayor Age Tovan and Skedsmo Mayor Ole Jacob Flaten, apart from a host of others.

The festival took off with Prime Minister Solberg`s opening address stressing on the festival`s cultural importance and its need in Norway and all over the world. Her speech was followed by live dance shows that left the audiences mesmerized by the spellbinding performances.

The highlight of this mega festival was the most spectacular concert at Lillestrøm Kultursenter - the Bollywood Musical night - with Jassbir Jassi, Trygve Seim, Jai Shankar, Taz - Stereo Nation and Sniti Mishra, along with festival dancers who mesmerized everyone with their magical performances, resulting in a standing ovation by a very responsive audience.

Concluding this biggest Scandinavian film festival, Director Nasrullah Qureshi said, "I'm overwhelmed by the response of this year`s festival and appreciate the outstanding efforts of the whole festival team, as well as all our guests and audiences for encouraging us by attending this festival."