Bollywood takes a back seat as Goa film festival opens

PANAJI: India's most prestigious film festival kicks off in the tourist haven of Goa, promising to be a low-key affair with the glitz and glamour of Bollywood taking a back seat at the annual event.But lovers of cinema will have their hands full at the 39th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), with as many as 225 screenings of films from around the world, organisers said.The ten-day festival, hosted by Goa for the fifth straight year, opens with Peter Chan's "The Warlords", a Chinese war epic set in the 1860s. Chan is also chairman of the festival jury.Sixty foreign-language films and 80 Indian films are in the line-up, including Bollywood hits like "Jodhaa Akbar" and India's Oscar entry "Taare Zameen Par".India has looked to build a film festival along the lines of Cannes, turning to Goa to provide a picturesque backdrop to a celebration of cinema. But the festival has been criticised in the past for focussing on Bollywood while ignoring regional-language films from across the country. Things may be different this year."We do have Bollywood as part of the Indian section, but we also have some very interesting films, some of them from first-time directors, in the Indian programming as well," said Bhupendra Kainthola of the Directorate of Film Festivals.

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India's swine flu death rate is increasing

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