It's Bollywood vs Rest at Goa IFFI

Panaji, Dec 1: Three years have passed and the debate goes on. The 37th International Film Festival of India(IFFI), coming to a close here day after tomorrow, witnessed a clash over the suitability of Goa as the permanent venue for the festival.

This festival was also marked by frequent complaints about its ''pro-Bollywood'' bias.

Despite, good presence of regional films in the festival, their artistes and directors always felt sidelined in terms of recognition as compared to what was bestowed upon Bollywood actors and filmmakers.

Those from the southern film industry were more vocal about it.

Their resentment came to the fore at the very opening ceremony of the festival when Kannada director Ravi stood up to protest the total exclusion of images from the regional cinema in the theme song's video.

''We will have our own international film festival,'' he said walking out of the ceremony midway.

Noted Malyalam filmmaker TV Chandran was to follow Ravi soon. On his arrival here on November 26 for the presentation of his film 'Aadum Koothu', he had to wait for his pass for hours because it could not be ready for lack of photograph.

He found it very insulting that the directorate could not find his photo anywhere though it was the eighth time that his film had found place in the Indian panorama section.

''Why can't they respect filmmakers and artistes of regional cinema here. Goa does not have the infrastructure and the character for an international event of this kind. It may be a great place for tourism, for anything else, but not for film festivals,'' he said.

Marathi actor Sandeep Kulkarni had similar complaints.

He said producer and director of Marathi movie 'Maaybaap' which was premiered here during the festival were not introduced and they were not allowed to present their films before the screening.

''A film culture is sadly not here in Goa. The local organisers cannot recognise eminent artistes and filmmakers from different parts of the country except from Bollywood,'' he added. His views were seconded by Bengali filmaker Saibal Mitra.

Similarly, an Israeli director who had come all the way to Goa for the screening of her film, could not present it and meet the delegates.

Noted actress Nandita Das also finds Goa an unsuitable venue as, ''It can never have that kind of participation that can be witnessed in a place like Delhi. I wish it was back in the capital,'' she said.

However, Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra and filmmaker Jabbar Patel find the decision to shift the IFFI venue to Goa ''very sensible.'' ''Goa would turn out to be an ideal place for IFFI,'' they added.

Echoing the same views, Entertainment Society of Goa(ESG) CEO Nandini Paliwal, Goa Chief Secretary JP Singh and Member of ESG governing body Manguirish N Pai Raiker and Senior Deputy Director of the Film Festival Shankar Mohan said it was premature to jump to the conclusion about the suitability of Goa as the venue.

IFFI here is only three-year-old, and we need more time, they added.

Mr Pai Raikar, who is also the Vice President of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), says the criticism against IFFI being held in the state smacks of bias and was unfair. ''The ESG team travelled through the length and breath of the country to promote the festival. There is no point in debating whether Goa should be the permanent venue or not. The festival has come to stay in the state and the issue to be discussed is how to improve the organisation. The government is already working on it,'' he added.

In all festivals across the world, seating in cinema screens is on first come first serve basis and there is no point in criticising the long queues.

Film critics Jyoti Venkatesh and Syed Siraj, who have been covering IFFI for almost two decades, also feel the same way. They say there was nothing wrong about Goa as the festival venue. They argue that soon more state-of-the-art infrastructure will come up in the state and then there will be no difficulty in holding such a festival here.

However, senior journalist from Bangalore B N Subramaniam says merely addition of buildings cannot give a place the character needed for such an event.

He is also among those dead against organising such an event in Goa.

However, Green Oscar winner filmmaker Mike Pandey has a very different view from them all. According to him, the venue should be shifted every year to different cities with proper infrastructure so that people, especially those learning filmmaking from all parts of India could have conveniece in participating in it.

Curator of the Film India Worldwide Section at IFFI Uma Da Cunha and a regular visitor to the Cannes Film Festival says the comparison between Cannes and Goa was not right. ''Cannes is 60-year-old while Goa is only three-year-old. With passage of time it will certainly make up for the shortcomings,'' she added.

Director of Asian and MAMI festivals in Mumbai Sudhir Nandgaonkar says the number of delegates should be restricted for some time till an adequate infrastructure was in place.

There is also a view that members of the organising team should not be changed frequently. Since IFFI started three years ago, members of the organising team have been changed frequently.

There should be a consistency of experience among the organisers, they feel.

She was also vehemently critical of the peripheral activities surrounding IFFI in Goa. Film Festival is meant to be for viewing films and not concentrating on outside activities.

However, Mr Singh defended these activities, saying they were a must for participation of the local people as festival activities were only meant for the delegates.

UNI