<p>The screening of filmmaker Gitanjali Rao’s animated film ‘Bombay Rose’ was slightly delayed at the 12th Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) by a delegate angry about the fact that he was not let in soon enough.</p>.<p>Rao was present at the screening of the film, which had won the Silver Hugo award at the Chicago film festival.</p>.<p>The delegate’s complaint was that “they are not letting 5 people get through when 50 seats are available”. This reporter, who attended the screening, can confirm that only a handful of seats were available.</p>.<p>BIFFes volunteers don’t let in all people together because if more people than the available number of seats are let in, it will be difficult to push out those who have no place to sit. So, after a large number of people are let in, subsequent delegates are let in in people in smaller batches. The angry delegate happened to be in one of the smaller batches.</p>.<p>The issue did not end when the organisers apologised to the man; he kept bringing up the issue every few minutes.</p>.<p>Subsequently, the audience, which was losing patience with the man, groaned every time he protested.</p>.<p>When everything seemed to have subsided, BIFFes artistic director N Vidyashankar introduced the director of the film. But her speech was interrupted by the man who raised the issue again. He shouted down a young man who lost his temper with the delegate. Another man from his group was heard asking the young man if “he knew whom he (the angry delegate) was”.</p>.<p>The young man was pulled out of his seat temporarily by the festival’s artistic director N Vidyashankar.</p>.<p>Things smoothened out after this, and Gitanjali Rao, with biting irony, asked the angry delegate for permission before continuing her speech.</p>.<p><strong>Connecting dots</strong></p>.<p>Speaking before the screening of her film ‘Bombay Rose’, director Gitanjali Rao, hinted at the Delhi riots.</p>.<p>The reference came up following a scuffle over the seats in the theatre.</p>.<p>Urging the audience to not fight, she said that the country is going through an issue as it is, and that we should not be fighting over seats.</p>.<p>‘Bombay Rose’ is, among other things, a love story between a Hindu woman, who is forced to take up a profession the society has deemed menial, and Kashmiri man, whose family was the victim of the crisis in Kashmir.</p>
<p>The screening of filmmaker Gitanjali Rao’s animated film ‘Bombay Rose’ was slightly delayed at the 12th Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) by a delegate angry about the fact that he was not let in soon enough.</p>.<p>Rao was present at the screening of the film, which had won the Silver Hugo award at the Chicago film festival.</p>.<p>The delegate’s complaint was that “they are not letting 5 people get through when 50 seats are available”. This reporter, who attended the screening, can confirm that only a handful of seats were available.</p>.<p>BIFFes volunteers don’t let in all people together because if more people than the available number of seats are let in, it will be difficult to push out those who have no place to sit. So, after a large number of people are let in, subsequent delegates are let in in people in smaller batches. The angry delegate happened to be in one of the smaller batches.</p>.<p>The issue did not end when the organisers apologised to the man; he kept bringing up the issue every few minutes.</p>.<p>Subsequently, the audience, which was losing patience with the man, groaned every time he protested.</p>.<p>When everything seemed to have subsided, BIFFes artistic director N Vidyashankar introduced the director of the film. But her speech was interrupted by the man who raised the issue again. He shouted down a young man who lost his temper with the delegate. Another man from his group was heard asking the young man if “he knew whom he (the angry delegate) was”.</p>.<p>The young man was pulled out of his seat temporarily by the festival’s artistic director N Vidyashankar.</p>.<p>Things smoothened out after this, and Gitanjali Rao, with biting irony, asked the angry delegate for permission before continuing her speech.</p>.<p><strong>Connecting dots</strong></p>.<p>Speaking before the screening of her film ‘Bombay Rose’, director Gitanjali Rao, hinted at the Delhi riots.</p>.<p>The reference came up following a scuffle over the seats in the theatre.</p>.<p>Urging the audience to not fight, she said that the country is going through an issue as it is, and that we should not be fighting over seats.</p>.<p>‘Bombay Rose’ is, among other things, a love story between a Hindu woman, who is forced to take up a profession the society has deemed menial, and Kashmiri man, whose family was the victim of the crisis in Kashmir.</p>
