The fifth Bangalore International Film Festival saw an overwhelming response from cine enthusiasts here on Sunday too. They thronged the venues and stood in long queues anxiously even as they were apprehensive of watching their favourite films, following the chaos that prevailed on Saturday.
According to the organisers, over 1,000 people per show returned disappointed, as the seats available were 1,500 but over 2,500 passes had been issued. Frustration was writ large on the faces of those who were denied entry.
“My efforts to get a daily pass failed, as I was told that the organisers had stopped issuing passes,” complained Sangeeta Subrahmanya of Vijayanagar who was at Lido.
Aruni De from Bhubaneswar was angry as she had no place to rest, after missing the first show of the day. “Providing waiting space is the least that the organisers could do,” she lamented.
Rakesh B.T. of BTM Layout had no complaints, as he had procured passes for the entire week in advance. “Having passes will not help much. You have to reach the place before the others get there,” he said. Pritam Singh from Domlur was much disappointed, as he could not watch even a single film at Garuda Mall.
The situation was no different at Priyadarshini (Badami House) and Sulochana (Information Department on Infantry Road).
Despite the organisers providing extra chairs, many returned disappointed.
Suresh Krishna’s book
The Telugu version of Basha by director Suresh Krishna was released at Freedom Park, where a public screening of regional language films has been arranged as part of the film festival. Mr. Suresh Krishna has written a book in Tamil on how he made Rajanikanth’s Annamalai and Basha.
The book features all the exciting incidents that happened during production.
Malathi Rangarajan, a senior journalist with The Hindu , is the co-writer of the original work released in November.
‘Tent’ cinema
A replica of a “Tent” cinema created at Garuda Mall has turned out to be an added attraction for cine buffs. This structure is named after Gubbi Veeranna, doyen of Kannada cinema and theatre.
Kannada films are being screened, as a mark of respect for Gubbi Veeranna. The Information Department has provided them DVDs of famous Kannada films for screening at the “Tent”. Narada Vijaya starring Ananth Nag and Galate Samsara with Vishnuvardhan in the lead was screened on Sunday. “Four films are scheduled to be screened at the ‘Tent’ on Monday,” the organisers said.
