Parrikar stole the show
PANJIM: Other than superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth, a third superstar stole the show at the IFFI opening and it was none other than Goa’s former chief minister and current Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Parrikar was the first dignitary to arrive at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium and drew a sustained applause throughout his speech.
“This place is beautiful and I still don’t feel like going back to Delhi,” Parrikar said. His 10-minute speech that initially started in Hindi, veered to Konkani, and ended in English, with Parrikar announcing, “I am trying to learn better Hindi”.
Earlier, Parrikar, called “Face of BJP” in Goa, turned out to be the show stealer when he reached out to people individually, greeting, wishing and listening to their woes.
He was surrounded by hundreds of people, who wished him success in his new role as Defence Minister.
Parrikar posed for selfies and group photographs. The BJP leader very patiently met people for over 20 minutes before he went to his seat to accompany Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar.
Milind, Damu left high and dry
PANJIM: The opening of 45th IFFI-2014 saw some eyebrows raised as Information and Publicity Minister Milind Naik and Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) vice chairman Damodar Naik were not invited to the dais at the inaugural on Thursday evening.
The Director of Film Festival Shankar Mohan too was not called to light the lamp that marked the opening of the festival.
IFFI is organized by DFF, ESG, and the Union and State governments. Surprisingly, while the Minister for information and Publicity was left out, information secretary Pawan Kumar Sain was asked to share the stage along with others.
The special guests that were invited to light the lamp included Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley, Minister for State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Parrikar, Governor Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth, actor Pawan Kalyan, Ragini Dwivedi, Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, Tong Zhang, among others.
CM promises Goans more share of fest
PANJIM: Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Thursday said that efforts would be made to encourage Goans to set up units for manufacturing film equipment.
“With Goa being declared as the permanent venue for IFFI, it now becomes our responsibility to promote local films and Goa as a film destination,” Parsekar told the audience at the opening ceremony.
“For this we will encourage locals to set up units for film industry, which will supply all the required equipment,” he said.
Chief Minister said that there are various challenges before the government to develop the required infrastructure for IFFI.
“We accept the challenge and promise to develop the best infrastructure by IFFI 2015,” he said.
He also said that the first IFFI was given to Goa when BJP was in power in the State and it has been declared a permanent venue when again BJP is governing the country and the state.
No traffic mess in Panjim this time
PANJIM: Even as the 45th International Film Festival opened in Goa, Panjim was unaffected by traffic congestion. In the city, it was business as usual, as people went about their work, oblivious of the elaborate lighting at city venues.
Hosting the IFFI opening and closing in the city used to create havoc for city residents and commuters. But this time since the opening was held at the Indoor Stadium on Taleigao plateau, people heaved a sigh of relief as they could move about their work unaffected.
