Deepika Padukone has been unanimously elected as the new chairperson of Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), the non-profit public trust responsible for organising the yearly MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Found in 1997 by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and other stalwarts of the Hindi film industry, MAMI has been previously chaired by Kiran Rao and Shyam Benegal. Kiran, who was elected as chairperson in 2015, has stepped down to focus on her filmmaking career. 

Welcoming Deepika on board, Festival Director Anupama Chopra tweeted, “To new beginnings! Thank you Kiran for your faith and generosity and hard work. Excited to learn from and work with our new chairperson, the amazing Deepika Padukone.” Smriti Kiran, Creative Director, wrote, “Thank you for leading the way Kiran! And a very warm welcome to MAMI’s new chairperson, the incredible Deepika Padukone. Excited and happy to work with you to keep building the Academy!”

The present board of trustees of MAMI comprises: co-chair Nita M Ambani, Deepika Padukone, Kiran Rao, Anupama Chopra, Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Kabir Khan, Karan Johar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Rohan Sippy, Rana Daggubati and others. The 20th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival was held between October 25 to November 1 in 2018. The upcoming edition is scheduled to be held from October 17-24 this year.