Glitches galore, but Iffi gets ‘good show’ tag so far

PANAJI: Red carpet glitches and red-faced apologies notwithstanding, S M Khan, director of film festivals, termed the going as good at a mid-fest evaluation of the International Film Festival of India (Iffi) at Panaji on Saturday.
While Khan lauded the film fare being dished out to the 6,500 delegates, the latter demanded to know why the food wasn’t faring up to affordability.“Retailers in the capital are offering discounts to Iffi participants in a bid to perk business, but the food stalls at the Iffi venue are charging exorbitant rates for simple snacks,” fumed delegates.
“A cup of coffee (served by a prominent chain) is priced at Rs 52, when the same is available at Mumbai railway stations for Rs 7. Then there’s the plate of biryani which is priced at Rs 70 and a chicken sandwich, the size of a matchbox, is priced at Rs 35,” an agitated media person flared. A red-faced Khan and Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) CEO, Manoj Srivastava, promised to “look into the matter”.
To the presence of a few “unshaven, pony-tailed bouncers” at the main gate of the ESG precinct, Srivastava clarified, “No bouncers have been hired by the ESG. Even the security guards on duty are not unshaven and don’t sport pony tails. The people being referred to here belong to the Goa police force.” And of course, Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, whose Konkani film ‘Paltadacho Munis’, opened the Indian Panorama section, but who was not given a red carpet welcome, will be given the same, albeit belatedly, on Sunday.
While red carpet committee member Rajendra Talak had explained off the glitch to Shetgaonkar not answering his phone when the organizers tried to contact him, the director had denied having received any intimation, “whether via phone, SMS or mail”, to walk the coveted carpet and had demanded proof of the “so-called call”. Meanwhile, as if the flaws weren’t unsettling enough, Khan and Srivastava went on to make a debatable statement— that the screening of all movies at the film festival have met with full houses.
Khan also refuted reports that Q&A sessions between directors and the audiences, after the screening of films, had been largely overlooked. “If either the audience or the director is uninterested, we can’t force them to participate in a Q&A session. But we do make an announcement that a discussion will follow the screening of a particular movie,” explained Khan. Chalking out the programme for the remainder of the festival, Srivastava said that a fashion show of 16 popular costumes used in Bollywood through the years— from Devika Rani to Rani Mukherjee—will be held on Monday at the open air auditorium of the Kala Academy at 7pm.
“It will be choreographed by Vijay Shukla and will be followed by the declaration of the winners of the T20 of Indian cinema. The last date for entries to the competition is November 29. Data will then be collated overnight and we will try to fly the winners down to be present at the awards ceremony,” he said, adding that Bollywood stars Riya Sen and Aftab Shivdasani have already arrived in the state for the event. Popular music group, Stereo Nation, will also be in attendance. On Wednesday, the Lamptree awards will be given to the best short films, screened in Iffi’s competition section, at the Maquinez Palace, while the Vasudha award will also be given to the best documentary on environment.