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For Rakshanda, ignorance is clearly bliss (IFFI DIARY)
By Saibal Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service

Panaji, Dec 5 (IANS) As anticipated, Wizcraft's blue-eyed girl TV artist Rakshanda Khan returned to haunt the closing ceremony of the 36th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). 

Ensconced before the microphone once again to host IFFI's concluding show, she introduced guest of honour Mithun Chakraborty as: "He is the disco dancer of Indian cinema." 

The veteran actor who had an acclaimed film in the Indian Panorama this year, Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Bengali-language "Kaalpurush", could only smirk in disbelief. Anybody who has so much as a passing interest in quality Indian films knows that no contemporary Bollywood actor has won as many National Awards as Mithun. 

He has three under his belt - best actor for Mrinal Sen's "Mrigaya" (which, incidentally, was his first acting assignment) and Dasgupta's "Tahader Katha" as well as best supporting actor for his performance as Ramakrishna Paramhans in G.V. Iyer's "Swami Vivekananda". 

Expecting Rakshanda to be in the know of such insignificant details of an actor's career would be a bit like expecting Mallika Sherawat to pull off the character of Mother Teresa on screen. 

But did Mithun, always proud of his craft, let that oversight pass? He got his own back when he was called upon to address the gathering. 

"I cannot do a disco dance here because of my attire," said Mithun, sporting a bright dhoti-kurta ensemble. 

He then added: "This festival is the best platform that there can be for recording the changes that have taken place for the better or for the worse in Indian cinema from 'Mrigaya' to 'Kaalpurush' (witness the stress on two of his finest films)," he said.

It's unlikely that the irony of that subtle riposte would have registered on the hostess of the evening.

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Glamour overkill and wasted songs

Bollywood was at its worst once again when four of the songs from the album of the upcoming Sanjay Gupta film, "Zinda", were belted out with misplaced gusto in the course of the otherwise low-key closing ceremony. 

Cinema took a backseat as Shibani Kashyap rendered one of the numbers, while Bilal and Faisal of the Pakistani band Strings sang yet another. 

If that were not enough, following the music launch of the film, Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, who had inexplicably skipped IFFI's Homage to Sunil Dutt section a couple of days earlier, was given access to the festival's media premises to address a full-fledged press conference. 

While most serious film critics chose to skip the press meet, they could not help wondering what White Feather Films, the film production company jointly promoted by actor Sanjay Dutt and director Sanjay Gupta, had done to deserve the singular honour. 

Strangely, their last film "Musafir" had also premiered at IFFI when it was held the first time around in Goa in 2004. 

The worry in certain quarters that IFFI might be degenerating into a Page 3-driven event thanks to Goa's proximity to Bollywood is clearly being fanned even further by such efforts to push kitsch in the name of cinema. 

When the organisers of a film festival hire an event management company that understands nothing beyond the language of glamour and glitz, can you expect any better? 

The mess becomes infinitely worse when the company is reduced to scraping the bottom of the barrel in its effort to liven up the proceedings. That only ends up giving everybody a bad name - and cinema buffs unnecessary bouts of bad headaches. 

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Mammootty: Too big for IFFI stage?

One well-loved personage who gave the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) a royal ditch is Malayalam movie superstar Mammootty. 

A truly good actor, who has deservedly garnered critical accolades and popular adulation in his career, he did his stature no justice by laying down a completely unreasonable precondition when the IFFI organisers extended him an invitation to be one of two guests of honour at the closing ceremony. 

Mammootty insisted that he would not share the stage with anybody else, no matter who he or she was. At that point, Mithun Chakraborty's name hadn't cropped up officially. The person who was the first to be approached to do the honours was Satyajit Ray's alter ego, Soumitra Chatterjee. 

The Bengali actor said he was unavailable due to his theatre commitments. It was only then that Mammootty came into the frame. Marathi filmmaker Jabbar Patel's help was sought to get the word across to the Malayali superstar, who had played the historical protagonist in Patel's biopic "Ambedkar". 

Mammootty first accepted the invitation, but then obviously had second thoughts. As things panned out, he was absent from the stage despite his name having been formally announced by the IFFI organisers. Wonder whether it was really the prospect of rubbing shoulders with Mithun that put Mammootty off. 

He would have done well to remember that had he turned up in Goa he would have shared the stage with the likes of Chilean film director Miguel Littin and French film director Alain Corneau. 

So the no-show was probably more his loss than IFFI's. 
 

Increasing focus on Bollywood, a jarring note at IFFI
(IFFI DIARY)
By Saibal Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service

Panaji, Dec 4 (IANS) The presence of Hindi film stars at the 36th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here has generated a fair amount of buzz, but not all delegates are happy with the increasing focus on Bollywood. 

"Indian cinema has two distinct cultures," says well-known Kerala film actor Ravindran. "Bollywood-style masala films represent one, while a more personal kind of regional cinema constitutes the other. 

"When one is promoted at the expense of the other, things are bound to go haywire. It is rather sad that small Indian filmmakers are left to fend for themselves in the crowd." 

One of the dominant themes of this festival has indeed been this Bollywood versus the rest debate although no clear answers have been found yet. 

Ravindran, on his part, has taken the initiative to set up an Indian Panorama Pavilion at the festival to provide promotional and logistical support to low-budget films, especially those made by newcomers. 

This year, the pavilion was inaugurated at the fag end of IFFI. "Next year, we will be up and running from day one," says the Malayalee actor, hopeful that the producers from the two dominant centres of non-conventional cinema - Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram - will come forward to support the initiative.

Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham, the stars of Sanjay Gupta's "Zinda", fly in for the music launch of the film Sunday. The festival had opened Nov 24 with a promotional binge for Pooja Bhatt's second film as director, "Holiday". Halfway through the 10-day event, Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu spent a day in Goa for the world premiere of Prakash Jha's "Apaharan". 

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Screening of 'Dubai Return' fraught with chaos


The premiere Saturday afternoon of Aditya Bhattacharya's first Hindi film in ages, "Dubai Return", provided yet another illustration of what can go wrong when Bollywood norms are allowed to dictate the conduct of the festival. 

The film isn't exactly a multi-starrer with the supremely gifted Irrfan Khan being the only known name. The executive producer of "Dubai Return", Manya Patil-Seth, sister of Hindi screen legend Smita Patil, probably has a larger following than all the stars of the film (barring Irrfan of course) put together. 

Yet, the queues, as always, went completely out of control as the screening got delayed well beyond its start time. The show was slated to begin at 15 minutes past noon but even at 12.30 p.m. guests and celebrity invitees were seen strolling into the theatre. 

The crowds waiting in the queue, including several noted regional filmmakers, got rather restive. "This is a festival screening, not a private party," hollered one delegate. When their pleas to let them enter the hall fell on deaf ears, a riot-like situation erupted in the INOX multiplex. 

The director of the film was surrounded outside the lobby by TV cameras and it took him a while to get away. That held up the screening even further. When "Dubai Return" did start after all the commotion, the hall was packed to the rafters. A good sign no doubt, but when it comes at the expense of the decorum and core character of an international film festival, it can only heighten the worries of those who really desire to see IFFI grow into a major professionally run global event.

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Reviving the dead?


Talking of professionalism and pride, the people charged with handling the presentation ceremonies before each show at the 36th IFFI are clearly in need of a crash course in cinema history. Some of the boo-boos committed by the young comperes roped in to do the honours were embarrassing to say the very least. 

But nothing could rival what happened when yesteryears actress Vanamala, 91, was invited on stage before the screening of the late Prahlad Keshav Atre's Marathi classic, "Shyamchi Aai" (1953). 

"We are really happy that Vanamala Devi is here for the screening today," he said. Probably carried away by the emotion of the nostalgic moment, he then went on to put his foot in his mouth. "But, ladies and gentlemen, the director, Mr Atre, could not make it to Goa." Poor guy, he was not obviously aware that the Maharashtrian filmmaker and literary figure passed away over three decades ago. 

Even if the Directorate of Film Festivals had wanted to invite Atre, it could not have done so unless some supernatural means could be devised. A DFF official had to step in and take the microphone away in order to prevent the situation from sinking further into the grotesque. 

 
Swedish actor steals show at IFFI
By Saibal Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service

Panaji, Dec 4 (IANS) Of all the movie stars who passed through the venue of the 36th International Film Festival of India, none was as charismatic as the little known Andreas Wilson, a young Swedish theatre, television and film actor blessed with legendary Hollywood actor James Dean-like aura.

The star of one of the most acclaimed films of this edition of IFFI, Mikael Hafstrom's "Ondskan" (Evil), Wilson is a reticent young man who is clearly not comfortable with English. So his New York-trained director spoke for the film in Goa.

"I am the one who does all the talking," Hafstrom said while introducing "Evil" at its premiere in India. "Andreas is only good looking." 

Wilson has, of course, already begun to acquire a fan following around the world after his stunning performance as a student of an elite private school where he has to take on a bunch of bullies in the face of dire consequences.

"Evil" came into international limelight when it was nominated last year for an Oscar in the foreign language film category. Director Hafstrom has already bagged a Hollywood project, the Miramax-backed Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston starrer, "Derailed", which is currently in post-production.

"Evil" is a trenchant exploration of the nature and impact of violence. Designed by Academy award-winning art director Anna Asp, whose credits include films with Ingmar Bergman, Bille August and Andrei Tarkovsky, the film is set primarily on the campus of a school where a couple of rich kids terrorise their juniors, including a nerdish boy who admires Mahatma Gandhi, Charlie 'Bird' Parker and August Strindberg.

His roommate is Eric Ponti (Andreas Wilson), who is struggling to keep his violence-prone disposition under check. He endures much before he reaches the end of his tether and snaps. He has other reasons as well for his rebellion. 

Among them are the painful spankings he receives from a stepfather bent upon making him conform. When Eric's anger explodes, it blows everything away in its path.

Hafstrom's treatment of violence alternates between the graphic and the suggested and creates a claustrophobic atmosphere that can only culminate in more violence. "Violence," the director says, "is very complex. That is why I seek to depict it at various levels of intensity."

Given the impact "Evil" has had around the world since its success in Sweden, don't be surprised if you hear a great deal more about both Mikael Hafstrom and Andreas Wilson in the coming years. 

 
Delegates debate on Goa as IFFI venue
By Saibal Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service

Panaji, Dec 3 (IANS) With two days to go before the 36th International Film Festival of India ends, delegates attending the festival are asking whether Goa is the perfect venue for hosting this fest.

Jerome Paillard, executive director of the Cannes Film Market, says: "Goa is certainly a wonderful location for a film festival. But it is important for every festival to develop its own identity and character. Aping another festival won't do."

Dadasaheb Phalke award-winning filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan says much the same thing. "Cannes is what it is because it is always about cinema first, not about something else. In Goa, we keep hearing about how tourism will receive a boost because of the film festival. Tourists go to the beaches, not to film screenings."

It is obvious therefore that Goa as a venue of an international film festival could do with a bit of tweaking. Says Gurudas Kamat, a Panaji-based entertainment and design professional: "We have to necessarily increase the number of screening seats if we are to make this festival really attractive for delegates coming from outside the state."

At present, Panaji has the 900-seat Kala Academy and the 1,100-seat four-screen multiplex. But that could change dramatically by next year. "The Planning Commission has approved a plan to build a film centre that will house several screening facilities," says IFFI director Afzal Amanullah.

For many movie buffs and film critics, it has been extremely difficult this year to get into the movie halls to catch the better films of the festival. Long queues have formed before the theatres for many shows well before the start. That might be a good sign, but it has left movie and media professionals fuming. 

The 36th IFFI saw at least 50 percent of the delegates being contributed by Goa itself, clear proof that the festival is losing its ability to attract people from outside. That, people in the know suggest, would defeat the very purpose of hosting the festival - helping Goa rid itself of its reputation as a backpackers' destination and position itself as a more upmarket tourist site.

Foreign delegates who have made the trip to Panaji love the location all right, but are divided over whether Goa has the culture that can sustain a cinema-related event of this nature. 

Austrian filmmaker Sabine Derflinger, a member of the IFFI jury this year, is impressed with what she has seen. "This festival and the venue have a lot going for them," she says. 

But a film festival programmer from the US is seriously contemplating cutting short her trip and heading back to Mumbai. "I can get down to some serious work there," she says. "It's a waste of time here."


Kumar Gaurav makes a comeback with US film
By Saibal Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service

Panaji, Dec 3 (IANS) Actor Kumar Gaurav hasn't been seen much since he featured in director Sanjay Gupta's "Reservoir Dogs"-inspired "Kaante" in 2002. But the affable artist is quietly preparing to make a comeback, albeit in a low-key, offbeat manner.

The actor has just finished work on a US-produced film titled "Guiana 1838", directed by Rohit Jagessar, an Indian-American of Caribbean descent. "It's a small film by Hollywood standards, but the New York-based producers are talking to Miramax for distribution in the US and elsewhere," says Gaurav.

"Guiana 1838", shot on a budget of $5 million, traces the voyage of the first Indian settlers who set sail for Guyana as plantation workers. "I play the lead character in the film, a simple young man who goes out in search of a secure future and an identity."

Adds Gaurav: "I am the only Indian actor in the cast. All the others are from north and south America, many of them fine theatre actors," Gaurav says. The other actors in starring roles are Aarti Bhatija and Henry Rodney.

The film, according to Gaurav, focuses on the voyage of the Hesperus, which set sail from the Bay of Bengal, with the first load of indentured Indian workers. Even as it highlights the struggle of the people on board, "Guiana 1838" is a story of the triumph of the human spirit. 

"As far as I know, the post-production work of the film is over. The film will open some time early next year," says the actor, who is in Panaji to pay a special tribute to his father-in-law, the late Sunil Dutt, who passed away earlier this year.

Gaurav has another 'comeback' film up his sleeves. Titled "Gabbarsingh.com", it is being directed by Ravi Krishna. "We have completed one schedule in Bangalore. The non-conventional film is set against the backdrop of the IT industry," says the actor-producer.

Gaurav's production outfit, Aryan Pictures, too, is still active. Already five films old, he is currently readying himself to add to that tally. 

Does he see himself turning director any time soon? No, he is happy being a producer. Direction, he says, isn't quite my cup of tea. "To be a director, one requires a wider view of the process of filmmaking. I think like an actor. I am happy doing what I am," he says.