PANAJI
Bollywood star, Ajay Devgn will be the chief guest for the opening ceremony of the 47th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) scheduled to begin on November 20, even as Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) announced that 5,400 delegates have already registered for the festival.
ESG Vice Chairman Rajendra Talak said Devgn would be the chief guest for the opening ceremony and Baahubali director S S Rajamouli would be chief guest for the closing ceremony. Talak also said the ticketing procedure this year would be stricter and delegates would be penalised if they didn’t attend movies they had booked for online.
“This year, based on experiences from the past, we will be allowing only 30 per cent of movie bookings to be online and are looking to implement a penalty on those who book tickets online but don’t show up. We are still working on how this can be programmed but the idea is to restrict delegates that have 'three no show tickets' from booking any more online,” he said adding that the last day for delegate registration was extended to November 15.
He also announced that, ten Konkani films would be featured at this year and would be selected from the Goa State Film Festival. Talak said the Konkani films selected would additionally be paid Rs 30,000 for being screened at the festival.
Konkani film K Sera Sera… Ghodpache Ghodtalech directed by Rajiv Shinde has also been selected as one of the films under the Indian Panorama section, announced earlier on Tuesday in Delhi.
This year’s festival will also enable delegates to know the status of each show, online itself with a green or red dot depending on whether seats for the particular show are available or not. Ticket counters this year, in addition to the usual one at INOX will be placed at Kala Academy too.
“Delegates in the past have complained that they were not able to get tickets at INOX and we have therefore added the new ticket venue. Delegate cards will also be delivered from November 15,” said Talak.
Complaint politically motivated: Talak
PANAJI: With Goa Forward filing an official complaint with the Goa Lokayukta, ESG Vice Chairman Rajendra Talak on Tuesday said the move was a politically motivated one against ex-VC Damu Naik.
Speaking on the sidelines of an IFFI announcement, Talak said, “this year’s tender process was different from the previous years but has been mentioned in the document. We have been transparent in the functioning and will be open to any probe by the Lokayukta,” he said.
Goa Forward has alleged corruption in the means used to grant a tender to a company for decorating of the city for the festival. ESG has however said this year’s selection process for the tender leans towards the concept of the company and not just based on the amount they had quoted.
