Rituparno's Cannes embarrassment

Bengali filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh, whose black-and-white film "Dosar" won him rave responses at the ongoing 60th Cannes Film Festival, was embarrassed when his chair collapsed in the middle of a conference where his movie was being discussed.

"It was certainly a very embarrassing moment," giggled Ghosh from Cannes. "My chair just came crashing down and I was on the ground stunned. Everyone laughed. Why does this have to happen to me?"

But what cheers him is the fact that his "Dosar" has been noticed and is likely to be picked up by various festivals across the world, including the New York Film Festival.

"I realise this one trip to Cannes with 'Dosar' has changed the film's destiny," Ghosh told IANS.

The director is attending the international film festival along with Bengali actor Prosenjeet, who plays the lead in his "Dosar".

Though some top names from Bollywood were also present at the glitzy event, Ghosh couldn't meet most of them.

"I heard Bipasha Basu-John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai and Preity Zinta were here. But I didn't see them. Mr. (Amitabh) Bachchan was also here for 'Cheeni Kum'. But there were about 200 people wanting his attention at any given time. If I can meet him in Mumbai, why crowd him in Cannes?"

But Ghosh ran into ace director Mani Ratnam.

"He is here with his 'Guru'. And yes, I met Michael Moore, who was here with his scathing film on American healthcare. My 'Dosar' is a far cry from Moore's film. It's the variety that makes Cannes so unique."