Panaji, Nov 3

Noted British actor and Academy award winner Sir Ben Kingsley will be the guest of honour at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which will be held later this month in Goa, state Chief Secretary Sanjiv Srivastava said Tuesday.

"Sir Ben Kingsley will be coming. He will be our guest of honour at the inaugural ceremony of the 40th edition of the IFFI, which will be held in Panaji from Nov 23 onwards," Srivastava told reporters Tuesday evening, after attending a meeting of the governing council, which oversees the arrangements for the festival.

Sir Ben is well known for playing the role of Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's epic film "Gandhi" in the early '80s. The role earned the Yorkshire-born actor worldwide acclaim and an Oscar award for the best actor.

BAFTA, Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award are other major motion picture awards won by Sir Ben.

"Either Rajnikant himself, or a guest of his stature will inaugurate the festival," Srivastava added.

The chief secretary added that the programme for the IFFI was not finalized yet.

"We are still working on it. The directorate of film festivals (DFF) has suggested some corrections and we are working on them. Since this is an international film festival, we are working to achieve the best standards," Srivastata said.