Seize the words

I got to know about the idea of volunteering for IFFK from my cousin Goutham. He was a part of 22 nd IFFK. Due to some personal issues, I was unable to participate in the 22 nd and 23 rd film festival. I thoroughly decided that I will join them on the 24 th edition. And god’s grace, it happened. The process started with sending resume to the IFFK mail and attending the interview. I did fairly good on the interview. I was appointed for hotel duty. My mind was filled with questions and excitement. At one side, I was excited as heck to work with Goutham,Vaishak, and Amal, my close friends. I only knew them as my best buddies, but never as my colleagues. That experience was damn good. IFFK seemed like a big puzzle at first. I solved it step-by-step. I was aware of that volunteers are not allowed to watch films. I accepted the fact and made my decision. And it was a fine one.     I am a sucker for meeting new people and mingling with total strangers. That aspect of my

Thiruvananthapuram: After screening 186 films, 24 th edition of International Film Festival of Kerala has ended. Festival started on 6 th December and extended up to 13 th December. The festival has received over 12,000 delegates, many film professionals and movie lovers from all over the world. The film festival was inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister Mr Pinarayi Vijayan. The dias was also resided by Mr. A K Balan, minister of cultural affairs. veteran actress Sarada was the chief guest of the film festival. Mr Pinarayi Vijayan published a book which tells us the history of Malayalam cinema to Mr Shaji N Karun, KSFDC chairman. Mayor K Sreekumar, V K Prasanth MLA, Jury Chairman Khairy Beshara, Cultural Secretary Rani George, KTDC Chairman M Vijayakumar, Counsilor Palayam Rajan, Academy Chairman Kamal, Vice chairperson Beena Paul, Secretary Mahesh Panju, participated in the inaugural function.

It was the last day. A bit of sadness has taken a place in my heart. As usual I reported at the Terrace Hotel.  As most of the guests have checked out, last day was fairly jobless. By the time, we managed to build a good relationship with the people at the hotel. We talked for a bit about various topics. Actress Anu Mol was one of our guests. She was planning to leave that day. The last job of the day and IFFK was to drop her at the Airport. I accompanied with our guest to the airport. We had a healthy talk about CAA on the car. Her views helped me to get a proper shape of the idea of CAA. I never got the chance to enjoy the dance program of Rima Kallingal on the closing ceremony. Our coordinator told us to report at Nishagandhi at 6pm. I was expecting a party. But nothing was there. They gave us our food parcel. It was really appaling. But you know something, it’s just matter of seconds your day will make a positive turn. As usual, my friends came to the rescue. We got out o

Seventh day started just as normal. I went to hotel on the same usual time. After the morning hustle, we were waiting for our lunch. By the time Mr Mathew Jenif checked out from the hotel. We had a fruitful talk about films and Malayalam film industry. He was kind enough to give us some chocolates. We enjoyed every bit of the chocolate. Chocolates will make your day better.

I thought day six would be same as every other day. Waking up at the right time and running to the hotel has become a routine by that time. As usual, went to the hotel and made the arrangements of cab to the guest.  After distributing the lunch coupon, two journalists from a respected media house came to the hotel for an interview with Mr. Ashvin Kumar. I got a chance to witness the whole interview. Mr Ashvin’s views on film making are very intriguing. The way he explained every question made me wonder. He explained the struggles that he had to face while making No Fathers in Kashmir. He pointed out some of the major flaws this country has and made his points very valuable. “Make a film on Kashmir and you are an anti-national” this point was very evident from his story. The troubles he faced in order to release a film is just un-explainable. I never got a chance to watch this movie. He told that the aim of this movie is to let people know the untold realities of Kashmir.

The fifth day was very annoying. As per the usual plan of action, each hotel will have minimum of two cabs. From that day, there was a huge change in the plan. Our travel coordinator told us that, the cabs will no more haul in the respective hotels. And we have to call him in-order to arrange the cab. It stabbed us right in the chest.

After the tiring third day, we were ready for the rest of the busy days. Fourth day was fairly easy. As usual we reported at 8am. Started making guest lists and arranged cab and other facilities for the guests; we were hanging out for a bit.

Third day started off with a bang. One of our guests wanted to go to the Tagore Theatre for a screening. We reported on time and called up the driver. The guest was having breakfast. I communicated with him regarding the cab. Cab arrived after twenty minutes. Guest was stuck at the lobby for all that time. By god’s grace there was just enough time to make the trip. City will be filled. It was the rush hour. This set back got us both tensed. The day started with a set-back.

I woke up with full energy. I was ready to crush the day. I went to the hotel with positivity. Went to the spot and took charge. Two more guests have checked in last night. Total number became four. I called up both of our drivers and told them report on time.

The first day at IFFK duty was very raw. I was appointed for hotel duty at Hotel Terrace, Thampanoor. We were a team of two. Though we had a small training session at Tagore Theatre the day before, we never had any idea regarding our job. The hotel people gave us a table. It was the hospitality desk of IFFK. Number of guests in our hotel was very less compared to the big names in the city. Most of the guests we had in our hotel were related with film marketing.