Frames of IFFI

Priyanka Chopra stood up for her fraternity and said that the reason Bollywood stars gave film festivals a miss was because they were really busy shooting.

SPECIAL APPEARANCE
Howzzat for irony. Priyanka Chopra stood up for her fraternity and said that the reason Bollywood stars gave film festivals a miss was because they were really busy shooting. “I would have loved to attend the festival but you see, I’m shooting for five films so there is just no time,” she said at a press meet. Tch tch… apparently you can’t act and still catch a show.

REGIONAL BALANCE
Finally, they got it right. For aeons, IFFI has faced criticism for neglecting lesser known regional cinema industries and being extra-nice to the more prominent ones like Telugu, Tamil and Bengali. But Goa CM Pratapsinh Rane has decided to right all wrongs. He pledged equal representation to all languages. And that includes the Bhojpuri industry too. That’s why Anil Kapoor, Prosenjit and Venkatesh were the chief guests at the inaugural function. The show included a medley of hit songs from all major regional industries.

Iffy, as usual
If it’s IFFI, can chaos be far behind? Try as hard, something or the other comes unstuck at the film festival. This time, the media was at the receiving end. The much-in-demand Press Information Bureau (PIB), in charge of doling out accreditation cards for the media, decided to shut shop for a long siesta. The media was denied entry at the event venue, Kala Bhavan, because the cards were not distributed. The commotion was sorted out after three hours of slanging matches. Phew.

Waris Shah, from Punjab
The big buzz at IFFI centred around the Punjabi film Waris Shah – Ishq Daa Waaris. Directed by the late Manoj Punj, the film will be screened on November 27. Don’t be surprised if everyone wants to watch this one since the film is going to the Academy Awards. The Gurdas Maan-Juhi Chawla starrer has been entered by India Waves TV, San Francisco, on behalf of its USA distributor Golden Palms Entertainment Inc. “Waris Shah has entered in the general category from the US,” said Lakshmi Baweja, founder and president of India Waves Television Network. Waris Shah will complete in many categories including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting actor and Best Costumes.