NEW YORK: The buzz preceding the five-day Indian film festival in New York was so strong that the $350 tickets to the screening of Mira Nair’s The Namesake followed by a dinner at the Tavern on the Green in Central Park were sold months in advance.
 
The 800 seat theatre filled up so quickly that it was left to author Salman Rushdie and UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor to scramble like Sir Galahads to find freshly minted literary star Kiran Desai a seat as she was temporarily blinded by the camera flashbulbs.
 
“It is wonderful to see the festival grow as the community itself grows more confident, more diverse and more original,” said Rushdie.
 
The opening was a star-studded affair, also attended by Indian-American actors Kal Penn and Pooja Kumar, veterans Shabana Azmi and Deepti Naval, and Rushdie’s wife, model Padma Lakshmi. Producer Jagmohan Mundhra and acclaimed British gay film-maker Pratibha were also present at the event aimed at bridging the East-West divide.
 
The organisers were overwhelmed by the response.
 
Complete report: It rained stars...