NEW DELHI, Jan 15: The film festival sprang to life as late as 10.30 last night. A mad rush and a near stampede caught the Siri Fort guards unawares. And no, it wasn't for Godard or Wajda. The late night ruckus was all about a naked woman.Between Marx and a Naked Woman will long be remembered for having sparked off the search for the hot movie this time and Equadorian director Camilo Luzuriaga can draw solace form the fact that he came within striking distance of becoming a household name in Delhi. Alas, for the voyeurs though, it wasn't all worthwhile. ``Kuch nahin tha,'' said one as he stumbled out of the auditorium. The film had more of Marx than the naked woman.
And this is Siri Fort. The hip hang-out of the fortnight, where the audience is aware that Akira Kurosawa isn't a Suzuki executive. They are the privileged ones many of whom have pulled strings to get passes -- and the cloak of respectability that comes free with it. So they drool over their porn, call it ``film
appreciation.''
The ticket-buying janta, however, is straighter. No porn, no show. At the four cinema halls in the city, therefore, film festival features this time have been a washout. At Chankaya, for example, Perfect Circle, a stunning Bosnian film, played to empty seats. Says the theatre's manager: ``Don't ask about sales, don't rub it in.''
At Siri Fort, it's a bit different. Last night, lured by the ``intellectually stimulating title'' of Marx and the Naked Woman, most delegates decided to skip the 9 o'clock shows -- which incidentally included Carlos Saura's El Amor Brujo and Andrez Wajda's Birchwood -- wrapped up an early supper, headed straight for the surprise late night billing.
``This time it's been quite low key,'' said an old IFFI hand, ``so naturally, when there was this title we had to give it a try. But then it wasn't up to the mark,'' he says. Not many are amused though. Gayatri Chatterjee, professor at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune,
managed to get into the auditorium, but ``couldn't see the naked woman because of this crowd of men.'' Quite used to seeing films standing on the side of the auditorium, she said this time it was impossible. ``I could smell liquor in the congestion and there was no way one could remain in the hall packed like sardines,'' she said. If Between Marx And The Naked Woman proved an out and out disappointment -- reports say it was a typically weird festival film, weaving in reality and dream with the protagonist admitting to Karl Marx of all people that he is ``confused'' -- then Topless Women Talk About Their Lives was something of a real let down.
By 11 a.m. today, the auditorium was packed but the problem was that the women only talked and did little else. ``Did you see this one?'' asked one TV crewman who was cursing his luck for having to let this one go. ``It's a good, fun kind of film. Nothing to do with the title,'' said an elderly delegate from Kerala. ``Tab theek hai,'' mumbled the
TV man and left.
Usually, if the indicator is not the title -- The Bachelor (Greek) -- then it is the country of origin. If it's a film from Chile or some other Latin American country, then chances are that the ``I-like-to-watch'' brigade will make a beeline for it. Other ways to zero in on the right one, according to the old hand, are to study the posters, get hold of the synopsis, and if the words ``love'', ``passion'', ``intensity'' find place -- bingo, there's your pick.
A few years back, it was the Erotic Tales series , our very own Mani Kaul had a film in it , that ensured full houses, and even earlier it was Sharon Stone starrer Basic Instinct that created havoc at a late-night show. Compared to that, the 29th International Film Festival has so far been pretty cold.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
