Badnaam Munni brings naam to Melbourne

Mind Blowing Films, the organisers of the recently concluded Indian Film Festival formally presented Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Robert Doyle with a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records after securing a place for Melbourne in the record books. Over 1230 visitors to the festival danced for three continuous minutes to the latest Bollywood rage Munni Badnaam Hui from the blockbuster Dabangg , cheered on by the movie’s star Malaika Arora Khan herself.

As the Mayor proudly pointed out, this quirky moment of fun-in-the-sun was also worth celebrating for the serious achievement it had made in restoring the image of Melbourne in the eyes of India and Indians. The city had a major PR concern at hand after the students’ issue made the headlines in 2009.

The Lord Mayor had played gracious host to the stars visiting from Mumbai at this year’s festival as well as last year’s. He also enquired after Rani Mukherjee, last year’s crowd puller, with whom he had hit it off so well that Link ’s Preeti Jabbal had quipped, “Move over Bunty aur Bubli, it’s now Robert aur Rani!”