Madhuri Dixit-Nene, recently back in India for good from the US, is headed to Goa for the 42nd International Film Festival of India (IIFI), starting today. "On my way to the international film festival in Goa. Really excited," Madhuri posted on Twitter today. Shah Rukh Khan will flag off the 10-day global cultural fiesta, officials told the Press Trust of India. While the opening ceremony brings in Shah Rukh, the closing ceremony will have Tamil star Suriya among other celebrities.

Meanwhile, actor Jackie Shroff today said Bollywood actors and industry professionals should not see Goa merely as a holiday destination, but also participate in the International Film Festival of India. "People come here (Goa) for a holiday. They should also come here during IFFI," Shroff said, after inaugurating the 'Raj Kapoor' lounge for directors at the IFFI venue.

"I am going to request people from the film industries in India, like Marathi, Tamil, Bengali also to come here for the festival... People keep talking about Cannes, let's make Goa better than all that," he said. Organisers expect film luminaries Luc Besson, Bertrand Tavernier, Michelle Yeoh, Laurance Kardish, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Dan Wolman to be in Goa for the festival.

At the launching of the official poster, IFFI director Shankar Mohan said that with the theme 'Vasudeva Kutumbakam' which means the whole world is one family, the festival aims at making it the numero uno festival in the world. The poster has been designed by Thota Tharani. At the festival, the Indian Panorama will open with the screening of Malayalam film Urumi and will host Indian movies like Bengali film Ranjana Ami Ar Asbo Na and Hindi film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara among others, officials said.

The festival would also include a Retrospective Section and3D and animation movies. There would also be a special 'Master Class' session to explain the nuances of films and their making by cinema professionals to the session guests. The festival will showcase over 100 movies from 65 countries and end on December 3.