# If Goanet stops reaching you, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # Want to check the archives? http://www.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others #
##########################################################################
HEART 2 HEART (Herald) BY ETHEL DA COSTA
IFFI cold shoulders Goans
Am I surprised? Am I appalled? You mean to say, you don't know how IFFI has been reduced to a political jamboree, rather than a true festival of films?
So, am I glamour struck with the chota mota Bollywood hip-swingers that have shown up in town, taken a good holiday at our cost and vamoosed as quickly as they sauntered in, leaving us to pay their laundry and booze bills? Or the parties that are going bust with babus of the saffron brigade, the nothing-to-do society broads (bored housewives actually) looking for a five second flash of photo op in the newspapers (and the shameless jostling with reporters of national television networks for a picture byte. This turns my bile), the ga-ga Bombayite, Andhraite, Keralite, North Indian and South Indian who have always looked at Goa with rose tinted glasses that fog ever so quickly at the sight of white skin. And local skin too, brain-washed as they are with Bollywood images that Goan women come cheap and easy! Give us a break! It is particularly infuriating when friends tell you how a young 20-year-old Goan girl got accosted at Miramar beach (hop, skip and jump from IFFI's Kala Academy) by a tourist type, flashing his wallet and asking how much she would cost him! This at 5.00 in the evening. In public view and very bindaas, if you may please. And it happens every day. Of course, it is another matter that the tourist almost got a tanning of his life when the girl retaliated with a slap and shouted out for a cop, who was never in sight, by the way. We don't care who is star-struck, but give us a break. And respect our space. And yes, please give Goa a break too from this illusion of beaches, shacks, sorpatel, booze, nude phirangs, ganja and a glorified condom. Bollywood is much to blame for this propaganda and the cheap tourist brochures that float around as government ads. The local Goan has been insulted, and will continue if we don't put our foot down fast. For he continues to be insulted even through the organisational politics of IFFI, shortchanged by discrimination through a complete lack of local participation. Where are the local Goans at IFFI? When it is the local Goan who will be footing the bill for this film extravaganza, paying through his nose on increased taxation on basic amenities. Where are the Goan stalwarts at IFFI who have contributed immensely to Goa in music, fashion, entertainment, culture and literature and by far, are no ordinary people in the country. Their absence screams. This cold-shoulder has been propounded even in extending simple courtesies, like invitations to the dozen odd functions hosted by the government at the film festival. We believe we know the answer to this step-motherly treatment. And it is petty. I will open a Pandora's box by mentioning how the local Press has been discriminated against through lengthy procedures of registration and rejection. Really sad.
Of course I know the babus will carp because not many people speak up today. Same with newspapers. Same with the self-styled `crusaders' who shout a cause, feel good with the publicity and then do a turnaround mouthing the opposite when their tails gets squeezed. And how easily they squeal a different tune.
For certain I'm no Bollywood groupie, and neither is Goa. A dream can succeed if the visions are long term, not a one-show-no-show-next-year extravaganza.
In this glorified mela it is unfortunate that Goa's rich, vibrant culture in the arts and music has taken a backseat to Page 3 psuedo glitz. Like a very senior son-of-the-soil remarked, "Why not an international music festival in Goa? This is familiar territory for Goa. Why not promote Goa as a cross-cultural destination for world class music, since music runs in the veins of every Goan and every child is an aspiring musician or artist. Do we need underworld dons, casting couches, moles, seedy starlets, drugs and prostitution setting home in Goa. Don't we have enough to deal with already? For sure, the infrastructure for IFFI gets our vote, but at what cost the burden on the common man? It's not justified. Was all the glitz worth for a festival that might not happen next year?" Tough questions that call for a serious soul search. Can we begin to seek the answers?
-------
