Filmmaker fumes at NFDC callousness

PRO turned film director Harish Sharma is pretty mugged on the official’s of NFDC Film Bazaar in Goa. The reason is that he was not allowed to enter the viewing room where three of his films were being screened. The films were his short film The Last Announcement, a documentary A soldier becomes a Monk and a supernatural feature film 2 Nights in Soul Valley that is to be released on 28 December all over India. According to Sharma he landed from Kolkata to Goa on 23 November evening and went straight to Hotel Marriott, where the NFDC Film Bazaar was going on. Out of anxiety, he wanted to go into the viewing room to see how NFDC had put his films in that section and also feel the response on his films. There he met a girl from NFDC and introduced himself to her saying his three films were being screened there. “Knowing that three films of a particular person were to be screened, the girl acknowledged my introduction,” averred Sharma. Even after all that, Sharma was told to register first. “Then I went into the registration room where there were two gentlemen. I re-introduced myself to them again and told them about my three films being shown in the viewing room. I told them that I just want to have an overview of the proceedings. On this, they handed me a form to fill and also said that registration fee was Rs. 10,000. I was shocked on hearing this and inquired as to why I should pay Rs. 10,000 to watch my own films. I even told them that I did not want to see the films, but just a glimpse of it. Yet, they did not agree,” observed Sharma. What came to light on inquiry was that the process was that if any journalist wished to watch the films, they would have to go through the procedure. The incident had the director seething with anger on the mismanagement and corruption practiced in a film bazaar like that of NFDC. “All this goes to show the callousness on the part of NFDC officials. The Corporation should take notice of this and see that this is not practiced again, “ Sharma maintained. Sharma later viewed the films at INOX where the films were being screened.