Technical glitches pulls 'Liar's Dice' out of Dasara film festival

Here is a piece of bad news for movie buffs, especially those who were eagerly looking forward for the screening of ‘Liar’s Dice’, the Hindi movie, that shot into limelight recently after it made it to the final round of Oscars, under the foreign languages category.

The screening of the movie, slated for September 30 at 11 am at Kaveri Auditorium, Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), as part of the ongoing Dasara film fest has been cancelled. It has been replaced by ‘Asthu’, directed by Sumitra Bhave.

‘Liar’s Dice’, a Hindi road drama featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Geethanjali Thapa, directed by Geethu Mohandas had triggered curiosity — especially after it was recently declared as India’s official entry for the Oscars 2015.

Digital video disc

Deputy Director for Information and Public Relations A R Prakash, also working president of Dasara Film Festival Sub-Committee, told Deccan Herald, “A technical error was noticed in the digital video disc (DVD) of the film received here. As is the procedure, the Directorate of Film Festival (DFF), New Delhi, that holds the rights of every film screened during festivals sends a copy of a DVD, copied from the original”.

Interestingly, the sub-committee had selected the movie in the regional films category, much before it got the Oscar fete.  

It was one among 16 films that were handpicked among a list of films sent by the DFF. 

However, some technical glitches were noticed during the preliminary screening. It may have occurred while making a copy of the original, marring the chances of its exhibition.” The copy was received on September 24, on the eve of the opening of the film festival on September 25.

Prakash said, however, in the interest of cine lovers, a missive was sent to the DFF, bringing the matter to its notice. 

Meanwhile, attempts were made to source the movie from Youtube, but in vain. When all efforts failed, it was decided to replace it with another film. “Even then”, Prakash said, “if another copy is received, the film will be screened in a revised schedule, before the curtains fall on the festival on October 2”.