A re-look at the colorful yet controversy-marred 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Goa from November 20-28.
Choice of films
There is nothing more important than the selection of movies when it comes to a film festival, irrespective of its magnitude. On that note, many who attended this year's IFFI, including delegates who have been frequent visitors for years, seem to be not so happy. Unfortunately, this edition of IFFI did not have a film that became the talk of the town. There was no much-sought-after cinema which drew a huge crowd. "The lack of quality of films was very visible this time. Even those who won the awards are incomparable with the ones that had won the honors in the previous years," said celebrated Malayalam writer C V Balakrishnan, who has been attending the festival for decades now. "There was no film that stunned the audience," he said.
Young delegates who have been attending the IFFI as well as IFFK in Kerala for years have also echoed similar feelings.
Participation
There has been a constant dip in the number of delegates in recent years, just 5000 (not officially confirmed) this time. It has obviously affected the vibrant nature that a film festival supposed to have. This year, often the campus of Inox theater complex, which is the main venue of the IFFI, looked desolate once delegates were in for films. Keralites, especially many regulars from the northern parts of the state, and film students attended the festival throughout despite the meager number of Malayalam films screened.
Abdul Hameed, a retired banker from Kozhikode, and his wife were unhappy about the decrease in Malayalam filmmakers and actors attending the festival. A girl student of Pondicherry University, who attended her maiden IFFI, said she found the crowd in Goa 'elitist' than the vibrant delegates of IFFK. However, the atmosphere of IFFI was peaceful and conducive to watch films for Malayalam poet M R Renukumar.
Prominence to populism
Right from the inaugural ceremony, the organizers' taste for populism than quality content was visible. Both the inaugural and closing ceremonies in which stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, among several others, danced and made cliched statements on cinema's power as a medium of unity, made the events look like some Bollywood award ceremony. The taste of the delegates was also visible from the long queues, perhaps the longest during the festival, to attend a chat show with actress Alia Bhat. This happened a few feet away from the preview room of Kala Academy where the Indian Panorama jury was watching the censored version of S Durga and having a marathon discussion on whether to screen the film or not.
Many, including frequent delegates and veteran journalists, were heard complaining of the excess of Bollywood celebrity quotient during the festival. The retrospective for James Bond films was another program that exposed the organizers' lack of perspective and taste for populism; and the inclusion of Baahubali 2, merely on account of it being the film that collected the most from Box Office, being another.
Tributes were paid to J Jayalalithaa while several artists from India and abroad who passed away last year were ignored.
Unnecessary controversy
The festival grabbed so many headlines for the row over the dropping of Malayalam film S Durga and Marathi film Nude from the Indian Panorama. The entire episode leading to and post the legal fight initiated by S Durga director Sanalkumar Sasidharan against the Information and Broadcasting Ministry was unwarranted, many who were within the organizers' circuit and outside it opined. The dirty tricks played by the organizers -- dilly-dallying over the screening of the film's censored version for the jury, inclusion of three jury members without any official communication to the press, prolonged spells of silence from officials like festival director Sunit Tanden and finally citing of mere technical reasons to deny the screening despite the Kerala High Court's order-- plunged the event into the level of a political conspiracy.
However, the enthusiasm of delegates who find time to attend the festival in hope of watching some brilliant pieces of contemporary cinema and cherishing moments of camaraderie must be appreciated. And, if it has to be kept alive, the annual jamboree that is held in the scenic beach town must regain a perspective that must be based in the ideas of freedom of expression, inclusive nature and democratic principles.