Nandita Das invited Rituparna Sengupta to the screening of her directorial debut Firaaq when the two met at the inauguration of the Film Market at Nandan on Tuesday. Picture by Aranya Sen

An international film festival without local stars. That is what the 14th Calcutta Film Festival has been for the first two days at Nandan.

Monday’s inauguration was a Gen-Ex show starring festival chairman Soumitra Chatterjee, Mrinal Sen and Tarun Majumdar. Among the current lot of Tollywood actors, only June, Arindam Sil and Shankar Chakraborty were spotted.

Tuesday began on a starry note with Rituparna Sengupta inaugurating the Film Market but the morning did not show the day as Tollywood steered clear of films or filmi adda.

Why had the local stars all but abandoned Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s baby? A few blamed it on the “Nandigram hangover from last winter” and most pointed fingers at the mismanagement, but the organisers brushed it all off.

“We’ve invited everyone from Tollywood. I don’t know why they didn’t turn up. It’s up to them to decide to be a part of the festival. I can’t send cars to their homes to bring them to the festival,” snapped Nilanjan Chatterjee, the Nandan CEO and also the director of the film festival.

“This is the attitude that has kept the stars away. They not only mismanage the show but also make no effort to involve us or make us feel wanted,” said a leading Tollywood actor on condition of anonymity.

Give them the spotlight — like Rituparna was by industrialist Sanjay Budhia for the Film Market — or the stage — like a host of actors will be by The Bengal (an organisation of eminent Calcuttans) at the farewell dinner on November 17 — and the stars will flock to the festival.

A first-time delegate seemed perplexed that films and film stars were not the focus at Nandan. “I have never seen a film festival with such little participation from the local film community. The organisers may be to blame partially but isn’t the love of cinema enough to bring Tollywood to the festival?” she wondered.

Why look at things negatively, demand some Tolly actors, claiming that the no-show at the festival has more to do with them having “less time to spare” now.

Actors Rudranil Ghosh and Kanchana Moitra, for instance, said: “We would have liked to watch some films at the festival but work is a priority and thanks to more channels and more films, actors are far more busy now. Some also have outdoor schedules.”

Director Tarun Majumdar, who was on the Nandan dais during the inauguration, bought the busy line. “Tollywood should be part of the festival but I guess most are busy shooting these days,” he said.

But behind-the-scenes action on Day II suggested that the organisers would manage to up the star quotient soon. Their trump cards — R&R,or Rituparna and Roopa.

“The Calcutta Film Festival is a significant occasion and no matter how busy stars are they should be part of it. We should expect more celebrity footfall. I was shooting in Ooty and flew down for the festival,” said Rituparna, who hopes to catch some Korean films at Nandan.

Roopa Ganguly, who arrived from Mumbai on Tuesday, is another festival loyalist. According to sources, she received a request from the chief minister’s men to be at Nandan “even if just for a few minutes”.

Roopa played down the request: “The festival authorities invite everyone and I will definitely go on Wednesday. I am here for two days and I won’t leave without visiting Nandan.”