Waheeda Rahman’s film ‘Teesri Kasam’ to be screened at Indian Film Festival of New Zealand

MUMBAI: Legendary actress Waheeda Rehman is all set to attend the opening ceremony of the Indian Film Festival of New Zealand, where her iconic film Teesri Kasam will be screened.

Spread across three days and three cities, the Indian Film Festival of New Zealand promises 30 film screenings, industry panels, Q&A post-screenings, networking events, and an awards evening. The first edition will showcase 10 features, 16 shorts, and four special screenings.

With 11 languages, including Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, French, Japanese, Hindi, English, Nepali, Kashmiri, Punjabi, and Kumaoni, and even a silent film, the festival is celebrating languages and storytelling from across India, read a press note.

The opening film is ‘Teesri Kasam’, which was recently restored by NFAI-NFDC and has legendary actress Waheeda Rehman and late Raj Kapoor in lead roles.

Teesri Kasam is a goldmine of songs that have gone on to become classics. The songs are based on the folk music of Bihar- Eastern UP. Asha Bhonsle sings this song with gusto and Waheeda Rehman dances in this song in the dancing style of that region with gusto.
Contd…. pic.twitter.com/fQ5QQ4mcJJ

— Shekar Iyer (@SHEKARSUSHEEL) September 25, 2025

In a statement, Waheeda Rehman said, “Cinema has always had the power to bring people and cultures closer. I am delighted to see TIFFNZ celebrating the richness and diversity of Indian cinema in New Zealand. Teesri Kasam is a film very close to my heart, and I am especially pleased that it will open the festival, allowing a new generation of audiences to discover its timeless story and poetry.”

Festival director Petrina D’Rozario said, “For the closing, ‘Pakeezah’, which was restored by the Film Heritage Foundation and founder director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, has kindly given us the film for the NZ audience. Our festival would be the second festival in the world to have screened the film after it’s been restored. We are excited to be one of the first audiences to watch this iconic film from 1972. Many of whom may have never seen these films before.”

The festival will run from October 23 to 25, 2026. (ANI)