TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Saturday said that the State government was confident that ESG would be self-sufficient within 2-3 years and that he would formally invite Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan to inaugurate the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2014. The festival, with Goa as its permanent venue is scheduled to be held in November.
“We had informally spoken to the Centre. But now we will formally speak to them. Amitabh Bachchan’s name is at the top of the list as chief guest for the upcoming IFFI. Once we get approval from the Centre, we will send a formal invitation to him,” Parrikar told media while addressing a press conference after chairing the Governing Council meeting of Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG).
The Chief Minister said the discussion Saturday was on various infrastructure upgrades as well as trying to create a film culture in the State instead of just showing films. “The film infrastructure has to be developed in Goa… Maybe we will put up a film city; discussions in this regards are on,” he said.
According to Parrikar, he was not averse to having a theatre come up but as long as they adhere to handing over the premises during IFFI to the government for the festival. This would be done as part of efforts to increase the seating capacity for audiences.
Parrikar confirmed that the 11-day festival would be inaugurated at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium as this would save around Rs 1.5 crore which was the cost of constructing the hangar to host the opening ceremony. “This money could be spent on putting up an acoustic system for the stadium which could then be used for commercial activities,” he said.
“We will also look for sponsors to sponsor the festival to defray the states expenditures,” he said.
