It seems the city’s busy cultural calendar in October has proved to be a dampener for the 11th edition of the annual Osian’s Cinefan film festival.

After a star-studded opening night at Siri Fort Auditorium, graced by composer Gulzar, director Vishal Bhardwaj and singer wife Rekha Bhardwaj, the footfall was minimal on Sunday at the early morning screening of Bhardwaj’s movie Kaminey.

A panel discussion on the making of the film followed, moderated by Osian’s festival director general Mani Kaul, where cast members Amol Gupte and Chandan Roy Sanyal were present.

The Rs 300 registration fee could be a reason for the low turnout, a few reasoned.

“We have to charge a moderate fee from the

audience since we are presenting a detailed a catalogue to them which cost us Rs 700 to print,” one of the organisers said.

The festival has limited the number of featured films to 100 this time, compared to 150 films last year. The festival has also started a new concept this year — the Osian’s Learning Experience (OLE) — to provide education about the cinema-making process to amateurs.

“We don’t want to limit this festival to simply movie-viewing in theatres. We will engage crew members and the cast of the screened films in a dialogue with the audience,” says Indu Shrikent, festival director.

As part of the concept, Gulzar held an engrossing two-hour session on the use of lyrics in Hindi cinema. Attended by film students, aspiring filmmakers and members of the media, Gulzar spoke at length about the contribution of some of Indian cinema’s greatest singers and music composers like Lata Mangeshkar and RD Burman.

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