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The Bombay film industry is very likely to boycott the International Film Festival (IFFI) 2011, to commence in Goa on November 23. This follows the exclusion of the Film Federation of India (FFI) president’s name in proposing the vote of thanks at the opening ceremony of the IFFI today.
By tradition, it is the president of the FFI who proposes the vote of thanks in the inaugural ceremony of the IFFI every year. However, Shankar Mohan, director of the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), which organises the IFFI, informed the Bombay film industry that the honours this week would not be done by the FFI president. He tried to convince the industry to accept the proposing of the vote of thanks by the FFI president at the closing ceremony on December 3. This was not acceptable to the FFI, which at a meeting held late evening on 22nd November, decided to boycott the entire film festival. Shah Rukh Khan of the Bombay film industry is scheduled to formally inaugurate the IFFI on November 23. He will fly to Goa by the morning flight.
It is learnt that the I&B ministry of the Government of India, the DFF and several other government officials have swung into action to avert what may turn out to be an unhappy start to the IFFI.
Update: Since the time of filing this report, the IFFI organisers and the FFI have reached an amicable agreement, whereby the president of the FFI will be proposing the vote of thanks in the inauguration.
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