NEW DELHI: A film festival featuring six anime works by Japanese director Makoto Shinkai kicked off in India on Friday.

The event which marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and India is sponsored by the Japan Foundation. In the festival, the Shinkai works will be shown in major cities in the South Asian nation until December, starting in its capital, New Delhi.

According to the foundation, Shinkai’s blockbuster “Your Name” is very popular in India as well, and Japanese rock band RADWIMPS, which created the theme song for Your Name, is also well known among people in India.

On Friday, a video of RADWIMPS performing with an orchestra on the back of movie scenes was shown. Before the screening of the video, local fans of Japanese anime staged a cosplay show to entertain about 300 people who gathered at the event venue in New Delhi.

Among the visitors was Nikhil Tripathi, 20, who is slated to start working as a corporate employee in Tokyo this month. Tripathi said that “Your Name” made him begin to study Japanese and that he never gets tired of the movie no matter how many times he watches it. He also said that RADWIMPS’ music makes him feel very at ease.

JIJI Press