HOW MANY FILM GOERS CAN AFFORD RS.400 BUFFETS?

THE WEEK definitely belongs to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s International Film Festival of India (IFFI) but I hope by the time this column sees light all the film delegates, film critics and public who’re seeing, breathing, talking, thinking, feeling a galaxy of films (200 films and more) at the come-lately Inox and Kala Academy cinema complexes will get more friendly food to eat! Trust me, snacks and meals are a real problem with nothing but Marriott’snacks running a virtual monopoly at both venues of IFFI. Lunchtime sees scores of film viewers in town quickly hunting the nearby Panaji market area for restaurants to grab a meal decently priced. Quite simply the Marriott Hotel’s snacks and meals were/are indecently priced or at least indecently priced for the Indian viewers. For the Lord’s sake, film festivals were never and are not meant to be a five-star affair, surely?

Here’re a few quotes from friends from Mumbai and Delhi. Said Uma, “How many days can I afford to shell out Rs.20 for tea, coffee, water bottle and Rs.60 for a chicken croissant…even at Mumbai’s Croissants a chicken croissant costs no more than Rs.40…this stuff here is not properly cooked either! I asked the buffet people if I could just pay for eating the salad and they said No!” Thankfully, she was staying at a guesthouse which provided her with a wonderful meal as long as she made it back for lunch and dinner which is difficult if you’re scheduled to view a maximum number of films. And said Rajesh Singh, a passionate film maker from Mumbai, when I asked him what he was doing for meals, “Which ordinary film viewer here can afford a Rs.400 buffet meal at the Kala Academy? I was disgusted and looked around for a place in town but I’ve got no time to experiment with local restaurants….” And Deepa said, “I bring my own bottle of water, I can’t afford to buy  water…water, tea, coffee, Lays packets are all Rs.20 and how long can one live on snacks? Do you know where the drinking water fountains are located, I’m told there are some….” Serious film viewers don’t want to make a meal on Rs.25 and Rs.35 popcorn packs either!

MUM’S KITCHEN

All I could do was recommend a few places to the friends e.g. my favourite Café Real, Kamat’s Hotel,  Navtara, Café Tato…for vegetarian food. Manoshanti, Mandovi Riveira, Ritz Classic, Mum’s Kitchen, for fish curry-rice…hell’s bells, the least the powers-that-be could have ensured is a decent fish curry-rice at a decent price at the Kala Academy cafeteria. For that’s what most of my friends were looking for because when in Goa all they want to do is feast on fish curry-rice! But they have no time to go looking for it all over Panaji. Like I said, I hope this aspect at least about IFFI goings-on gets resolved this year rather than next year. So there I was recommending my favourite eateries in Panaji for friends and acquaintances alike…if you’re vegetarian, discover Café Real at the corner of Azad Maidan (near the Panaji market) quickly for the best special alsana bhaji (Rs.10), special mushroom bhaji (Rs.12), special kabuli chana (Rs.10) and puri  in town. Small menu but  everything (exept the hefty chapatti!) is worth a meal and yes, the bill won’t make you bankrupt, okay. Really, I don’t know why they couldn’t have asked Café Real to set up a veggie foodie outlet at both Inox and Kala Academy for the duration of IFFI??? And then there’s Navtara with its wonderful cheese masala dosa (in the morning hours when the bhaji is freshly made), Kamat’s idli and medu wada are the best with the best coconut chutney, for decent fish curry-rice look for Mum’s Kitchen further down the Campal promenade towards Miramar Beach…. 

Many of the film viewers are vegetarian or like to be vegetarian while in a new place until they discover trustworthy restaurants. The cafeteria at Kala Academy is a great location but hardly public-friendly, and I assure you that the majority of the film viewers from the country over are folk who’re here either at measly publication expenses or personal shoe-string budgets…of course, all for the cause of treating the soul to some breath-stopping good cinema from the world over. Creature comforts don’t count for much but again they do count and in a place like Panaji it shouldn’t be such a problem. Or perhaps every visiting IFFI delegate should be given a small map of Panaji with eateries around the two venues listed on it…eateries which won’t screw up their tummies!

APOLOGY TO  NAVRANG

AND TO the few Guju journalists in town I do recommend Navrang (Navelkar Arcade) which I had written about here a while ago but at first discovery described it as a hole-in- the-wall affair or something like that. But I’ve eaten there a couple of times now and I say it’s a pretty decent hole-in-the-wall (as in small and cosy eatery)  affair and where else in town will you get a Guju thali for Rs.45 or special Guju thali deal for Rs.55?  I’ve met up with genial proprietor Vijay Mandavia and he tells me he’s got Choice at Ponda. An accident some 11 years ago left him pretty much helpless but with guidance from wife Jayshree he could cook! So he does the cooking and keeps an eagle eye on those who assist him, so if anyone is in Ponda and is looking for a Guju thali deal head for Choice (Kazi Building, opp. Hotel Pearl). As for Navrang in Panaji, he says, it is not “professional” but he stressed on wholesome home-cooked food…if there are few discomforts beat with them. Don’t know about all that but according to me Navrang is just fine for Guju foodies and I love everything there beginning with their rotli to their chaste buttermilk (and their dahi is 100 percent milk curd, he informed me, turn the katori upside down and see!). Also, Mr. Mandavia is an excellent raconteur if you understand your Gujarati, he’s not around most times though, only lunch time or dinner time…the kitchen is spanking clean. Actually, Navrang was closed for some time for refurbishing and is now back in very decent form. There’re also a few more Gujarati eateries in town but about them another time.

POSTSCRIPT: Following media protests at the time of going to press I’ve been told that the buffet at Kala Academy has been downsized to Rs.150. Well, three cheers to that! The media also gets tea/coffee gratis but only at the Media Centre set up at the Kala Academy. I’m sure this has cheered up media people no end, who ever is responsible for this mercy, thank you.

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