Chennai, Dec 10 (IANS)

Bollywood heartthrob Aamir Khan, who is set to attend the opening ceremony of the 11th Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) Thursday, will bear his own expenses for the trip to the Tamil Nadu capital.

He is following in the footsteps of megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who had attended the event last year at his own expense.

The eight-day festival is being organised by the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation in association with the government of Tamil Nadu.

"Aamir Khan has agreed to grace the opening ceremony of our fest (CIFF). He said he will be there with his assistants on his own and that we only had to tell him when, where and to which hotel he should come," festival organiser, actress Suhasini Mani Ratnam, told IANS.

"I have been chasing Aamir for three years and he has finally given us the time. We are also touched by his gesture not to depend on us for bringing him down. Last year, even Amitji didn't expect our support and even donated Rs.11 lakh towards our fest," she added.

Award winning films from international film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice will be screened at CIFF this year.

Critically acclaimed Italian drama "Great Beauty", French romantic-drama "Young and the Beautiful" and Japanese drama "Like Father Like Son" will be screened as part of the fest.

The opening day of the fest will feature performances by actress-dancer Shobana, Swarnamalya, singer Karthik and Anil Srinivasan.

For the fourth year in a row, CIFF has included a special competition section to honour the best Tamil films. As many as 12 films such as "Soodhu Kavvum", "Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer", "Haridas", "Paradesi" and "Kumki" among many more will vie for the prize money of Rs.6 lakh.

Malayalam actor Mohanlal will attend the closing ceremony of the fest which will witness the live performance of southern composer Anirudh Ravichander, who will receive the special award constituted in the name of Big B called Amitabh Bachchan Youth Icon Award.