Priyanka Chopra's 'Ventilator' gets a dramatic world premiere

Pic CourtesyYou TubeFrom furious movie buffs shouting against the organisers to the audience walking out of the hall after experiencing numerous emotions in 130 minutes the world premiere of actress Priyanka Chopras debut Marathi production venture Ventilator here was a dramatic oneThe Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star hosted the world premiere of Ventilator helmed by Ferrari Ki Sawaari fame director Rajesh Mapuskar on MondayThe Marathi film produced by Priyanka and her mother Madhu Chopra under their production banner Purple Pebble Pictures has as many as 116 actors Though not all of them attended its premiere quite a few celebrities including filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani and their guests turned up whose seats had been reservedAnd that did not go down well with some of the viewers who were eagerly waiting to catch the film starring Ashutosh Gowariker Sukanya Kulkarni Jitendra Joshi Sulabha Arya and Boman IraniAs the premiere time approached the moviegoers lined up to go inside the hall Tired of waiting and watching the invited guests entering the hall which is said to have 300 seats they stepped aside and asked the guards to let them inThis is a festival and not a place for private screening one shouted On seeing the chances of catching the film bleak some even leftIts a world premiere I cant tell them to not invite their guests But the audience doesnt consist of just the invited guests we do have a mixed audience Jio MAMI with Star Festival Director Anupama Chopra told IANSThe tensionfilled environment was just temporary The moment Mapuskar Madhu and Ashutosh took charge of the mic one by one the fuming audience cooled downI am happy to see nonMarathi faces Ive been to fests standing outside yelling and trying to make a place inside the auditorium which is completely full and there is always one uncle who will make noise So welcome uncle the director said referring to one man who had expressed his anger for not letting him enter the hall earlierPriyanka who is flying high in the West with the hit American TV series Quantico couldnt make it to the premiere but her mother shared that the actress vision has always been to promote regional cinema and get them access to the rest of the worldFilmmaker Ashutosh who had earlier acted in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa said that the films team was looking forward to share the movie with herIt will happen soonin New York itself he addedHe also revealed his unwillingness to return to acting I never wanted to come back to acting because direction is very difficult I want to stay focused on direction But Mapuskar kept on pursuing me for six months and he made my no turn into a yesVentilator revolves around an ailing senior member of a family who is being put on the ventilator just days before the popular Ganpati festival leading to varied degrees of speculation and panic amongst the clan he belongs toThe arguments over small things with family members a distant relative suggesting home remedies for hair loss or other problems or parents looking for bride or groom the film presents situations faced by most people in India making it easy to connect with itI was able to relate to the film Its true that despite staying in the same state family members meet only when there is a wedding in the family or a funeral said a movie buff after the screeningThe team received a positive response from the viewers Asked about plans to promote it Madhu told IANS We are going on city tours I hope it has a pan India release on November 4 We are planning to release it worldwide Thats why the subtitles were in English so that everyone can enjoy the film We are also getting invitations from festivalsTalking about other projects of her banner she said We are doing many regional films We finished a Bhojpuri film we are finishing a Punjabi movie and then we will start off with a Rajasthani movie