Goa may lose film festival?
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, DEC 3
Indian film doyen Yash Chopra’s lament at inadequacy of Goa in hosting the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has stirred a thinking in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to shift it back to Delhi.
Reviewing the just concluded festival in Panjim, the ministry officials say Goa was made a permanent destination seven years ago in 2004 but it has failed to develop the needed infrastructure
to make it India’s Cannes for synergy between tourism and films to generate “film tourism”.
Chopra has, therefore, triggered a rethinking in the ministry at the highest level on continuing to hold the annual film festival in Goa. The transcript of Chopra’s address has been circulated to examine the IFFI’s relocation back to Delhi.
No definite line of thinking has yet emerged, but the Government may throw open the festival for grab to Mumbai and Hyderabad to take advantage of their film culture and availability of the ready infrastructure for hosting such an event, the officials said.
They say nobody can disagree with Chopra’s contention that “we need to have the infrastructure, then only can we compete with international cinema”. They say Chopra’s warning is ringing in ears of the officials who attended the festival in Goa that the event would lose its charms if no immediate steps are taken.
Chopra said, “we need cinema halls with better seating and screening capacity to host festivals. We need halls with 12 screens. We need convention centres. We need exhibition halls to host international film festivals”.
In the light of these words, the ministry is giving a hard look at whether the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) should continue to host the festival on its home ground as a growing thinking is that Goa has failed to take off as a festival venue.
“At a time when Bollywood as much as art house films from India have attracted worldwide attention, to keep the festival barely afloat in Goa’s backwaters serves no purpose”, said a senior official associated with IFFI for several years in one capacity or another.
He points out that a lot of efforts were made in the first two, three years to make the festival a big success, but there has been a noticeable decline in enthusiasm, in the quality of films and in the level of participation. He says even Bollywood, which expected a festival in its own backyard to flourish, is now disappointed, and influential filmmakers want IFFI to be shifted out of Goa.
