Osian's-Cinefan 2007: Boring start

Toe Knee

One would think organisers would have learnt from past mistakes. After all, this was the ninth edition of the Osian's-Cinefan film festival in New Delhi and its biggest yet.

Nah!

The opening ceremony was as tedious as ever. This time around, Neville Tuli had roped in Roysten Abel and his troupe of street magicians to enthral viewers at Siri Fort.

Abel's 'The Magic of Freedom' even had a blues band playing in the background. But barring the female vocalist, the show had little to offer by way of entertainment. Even the magic tricks were old hat. And a tad too long.

Just when half the audience had been lulled into a sleep-induced torpor, emcee Rajit Kapoor stepped in to announce that the opening film would be screened shortly.

Yippee!

After a round of lengthy speeches, during which several jury members were paraded on stage, the lights dimmed and the global premiere of the Iran-Azerbaijan feature Raami got underway.

Unfortunately, Babak Shirinsefat's film failed to live up to expectations. This esoteric work based on the Qarahbagh conflict and lovers of an ancient era didn't find favour with several in the audience.

Ten...
Five...
One...

The number of people seated in my row disappeared faster than you could say "Roysten Abel's magic". What Abel could not achieve, Raami did - people fled the auditorium at regular intervals. Raami's director and leading actors, who had specially flown in for the premiere, would surely have been disappointed.

Day One had proved to be a damp squib. Will the next nine days at Osian's-Cinefan 2007 be better?

Do check out Jabberwock's must-see list of films at this year's fest.

P.S.
Spotted Manisha Koirala on the run, trying to avoid the paparazzi.
Spotted Gul Panag baring her back, flaunting a tiny tattoo.
Spotted Divya Dutta in a pensive mood, wishing she was in Koirala's shoes

Delhi - easily starstruck?

Prithwish

It has been long alleged that Delhi, deprived of seeing Bollywood celebs, gets easily starstruck. I didn't believe it at all when I came to the city as I thought it must be a rumour! How can people living in the Indian capital be unruly but sadly my impression about Delhi has changed recently. I was a witness to a few things which I think I should have never seen.

It makes sense that photographers and cameraperson shout their lungs out to get the best pic of a top notch celeb, whose photos are of great sales value! But leave aside such these celebs, Delhi simply cannot handle the ecstacy of seeing personalities who don't even feature in the industry's A list.

I was at Ministry of Sound some days back, happily sipping away "juice" (he he) and listening to the not so common voice of Simon Webbe, the British pop star and the former member of all boys band Blue when suddenly people went berserk!

It got so unruly that I could hardly hear him sing. All that I could hear was absurd requests flying in from all quarters and people yelling at the top of their voice. It got so bad that Simon had to himself first beg with his hands folded to people to stop behaving like hooligans and then threatened that he would not perform if the crowd did not control themselves.

What a shame!

Next came Neha Dhupia - the "Sheesha", "Julie" fame girl -- known for her steamy dances and bold roles! An eye-candy for sure! ;) but photographers were crazy as soon as she stepped inside the venue (not to forget she was almost 3 hours late) and then the television cameramen lost it as they tried getting an exclusive footage of the svelte heroine! It looked like she has won an Academy Award! Gosh!

First there was pushing and pulling, then came abuses and to top it all people started threatening each other. Neha must have also wondered why she's getting so much of media attention? So did we!

Delhi is a little strange place to be in! I still don't know why people go ga-ga over celebs! It's their job to come for promotions and it's our job to report about them and try and get exclusives! (It's bread and butter you know!) But why behave like lunatics! It's a shame! What would the entire Bollywood fraternity think about Delhi - a place which boasts of it's culture? And then we should think what impression would the audience have about us looking at these alarming footages beamed through the national television channels!

Time to think Delhi ...

Photo Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/City_Supplements/Delhi_Times/Neha_got_mobbed_/rssarticleshow/2183081.cms