When babudom met Bollywood

On the fifth day of the International Film Festival of India, the beach was too 8216;8216;common8217;8217; for the CM who8217;s fast amassing an awed fan following among the delegates and Bollywood presence alike. 8216;8216;Through this Aldona-Chorjuvem bridge, about 16 km from the capital, Panjim they can see we have spruced up Goa8217;s infrastructure not just in Panjim but in the interiors as well,8217;8217; Parrikar said of his 8216;8216;statement party8217;8217;.

So as the who8217;s who of Goa8217;s Cabinet and industry mingled with Director of Film Festivals Neelam Kapur and the rest of her milieu, Parrikar posed for stills and lives with Mani Ratnam and IFFI8217;s jury members, Milind Gunaji answered questions and Manisha Koirala was caught on camera.

But breaking from the booze-and-food version of parties that8217;s been a staple at IFFI here, Parrikar also brought in Javed Jaffrey8212;who, true to the officialdom that threw the party, did a crass mimic of a certain white-haired, pot-bellied, Bhojpuri-speaking minister from the North8212;the Daksha Sheth contemporary dance troupe, had fireworks and of course, was faced with an acute problem of accommodating almost 500 people, on an arena that could decently accommodate just 250.

For the locals who crowded the periphery in the hope of catching a glimpse of a 8216;8216;star8217;8217;, and who had been denied use of the bridge since Wednesday night the bridge has been open to the public since mid-September, the night failed to impress.

8216;8216;There were more babus then Bollywood,8217;8217; said a student, Mario Rodrigues.