Please, Preity please, spare us the gaffes

November 28: Oops' was a word that punctuated much of the proceedings at the closing ceremony of the second Festival of Films -- Mumbai, ...

November 28: Oops8217; was a word that punctuated much of the proceedings at the closing ceremony of the second Festival of Films 8212; Mumbai, held at the Tata Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday. The festival, which had been trying to balance complaints of poor organisation with a pick of good cinema from Iran and Czechoslovakia, tripped up good and proper on the last hurdle.

The presence of Dil Se and Soldier actress Preity Zinta, radiant in a golden coloured salwar suit as compere when the festival started by around 6.15 pm meant that the ceremonies would get the mandatory dose of glamour. After all, one of the avowed aims of the festival was to promote bonhomie between Bollywood and the parallel. Trouble right from word go: the microphone had predictably been placed too low, and Zinta dimpled with impatience as an organiser energetically wrestled with it.

Finally, when the mike was in place, Zinta started off on a run of gaffes that may have kept the audience in splits,but had the organisers glowering in their seats.Zinta got the order of guests to be called on stage wrong reading from the wrong paper and jumping the queue to call Shyam Benegal instead of Yash Chopra, who had to hand over an award to Subrata Mitra, cinematographer of several of Satyajit Ray works and later films like New Delhi Times.

Later, as the international FIPRESCI jury, comprising Sangeeta Datta from the UK, Anne de Gasperi from France and Ashley Ratnavibhushana from Sri Lanka, singled out reputed Bengali director Rituparno8217;s Ghosh8217;s Asookha for a special mention, Zinta trilled, can the director come on stage to collect her8217; award, is Ritu there, oblivious to the fact that Ghosh is a man.

The FIPRESCI also chose Brazilian director Claudio MacDowell8217;s O Toque do Oboe The Call of the Oboe as the festival8217;s best film. After Dr Anil Kankaria, Honorary Consul general of the Brazilian Consulate stepped onto the podium, received the trophy from Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, posed forpictures, accepted a cheque of Rs one lakh from the festival8217;s main sponsors and was heading towards his seat, Zinta called on 8220;Dr Anil Kankaria to please come on stage8230;8221;

But the mother of them all: Zinta forgot to call on the man who held out the promise of state funding for the cash-strapped festival: Bhujbal. Oops, I forgot, can we please ask Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal to say a few words, she cooed, even as Sudhir Nandgaonkar, programme co-ordinator for the festival, half-rose out of his seat in rage, gesticulating furiously in Bhujbal8217;s direction.

Those few words8217; were, of course, about the budgetary allocation of Rs 20 lakh to the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images MAMI for conducting the international film festival in the city every year.Blame it on the mike, pleaded a hapless Zinta. Ramesh Sippy, one of the MAMI committee members, too later asked that Preity be forgiven for her 8220;pretty8221; mistakes. Not so pretty if you consider that the festival8217;s purpose 8212; to develop a taste ingood cinema 8212; had been slightly derailed by bad taste at the closing ceremony.