Was Iffi inaugural a circus?

PANAJI: It seemed to be from a different era—clueless—and Iffi’s dictionary did not have the word classy. Err, did they forget that it was supposed to be an international event?
When Iffi got off to a ‘start’ on Wednesday, it faltered. One felt completely out of place at an international festival. Especially if you had something serious to do with films.For, there was nothing international about it.
The hall was filled with all and sundry. It looked like an election meeting, with people walking here and there mannerlessly. There was so much of chittar pattar all around. There was nothing that was orderly.
And the principal protagonist, chief minister Digambar Kamat, could have well brought a ballot box and collected his votes in advance! He sort of tried to make an election pitch by saying how he had managed to bring this great festival to his great city—the cultural capital and trade centre of Goa.
Though someone should have told him that the Ravindra Bhavan, the venue of inaugural, falls in Fatorda constituency, and not his Margao constituency, which he so proudly said was hosting the function. Kamat looked more like a candidate for an election than a chief minister involved in the opening ceremony.
The event had several people who had nothing to do with films. When the evening’s best performances were actually put up, which was the cultural show—truly classy and international—the audience did not really appreciate it. It was an insult to the artistes. The Kathak performance by a troupe led by Aditi Mangaldas and the Shillong Chamber Choir led by Neil Nongkynrih put out truly great performances. The audience was egged to give a round of applause by the compere twice, and it still did not move them. It was quite disheartening to see such a clueless audience.
It probably sort of became a picnic for them to be there. Or was it that the organizers brought in bus loads of people to ensure that the hall was full? It at least appeared so from the crowd that was there. There were international delegates from the film industry, suited and booted, who did not get a chair to sit.
They had to constantly search for one. There were other serious film makers who too seemed to be lost around. What did not go unnoticed was there were tens of other people, constantly on mobiles as if they had the most pressing thing to do even as the function was on. Some people brought in infants who were constantly crying.
The most bureaucratic was, however, what looked like a firing line. One after the other, 10 dignitaries stood in line on the dais for the first half hour, even as one after the other was called to speak. Were the organizers putting up a fashion show of dignitaries? They came a cropper here too then. Not that anyone around was interested in listening to what they were saying. Union information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni, was, however, sombre and elegant. She cut the crap to the extent her bureaucrats allowed her to do. Suddenly, the compere called Rituparna Sengupta on stage to hand over bouquets. She didn’t seem to know what to do. She instead stood in the line, next to Shah Rukh Khan.
The audience was probably more interested in getting a close peek at Shah Rukh Khan, the guest of honour. The rest did not matter to them. The information and broadcasting ministry and the Goa government should just take a back seat and leave it to the private industry to take the lead in such international events. The comperes—Rahul Khanna and Tisca Chopra—too appeared flop shows.
Not to talk of the fact that having the event at Margao was a logistical nightmare. Several voices were heard saying it would have been better to hold the inaugural at Panaji, where the event would have got in appreciative and knowledgeable audiences. Also, soon after the inaugural, many left for the dinner, which was at a star hotel in Dona Paula. The inaugural film Consul of Bordeaux was screened at Ravindra Bhavan at about 8pm, by which time several people who had come for the evening had left the venue. It was a slap on the Portuguese film director who had come to showcase his movie. It appears both film critics and film buffs were out of place at the event.