At chaotic opening ceremony, Japanese children left trying to balance on their toes as music stops abruptly during dance number u00a0 Film buffs who turned up at the E-Square multiplex on a chilly Friday morning for the opening ceremony were in for a surprise and some embarrassment too, as it took off on a jerky note. Sound snag Jabbar Patel, the director of the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF), welcomed the audience and then it was anthem time. However, when some 12 Japanese kids pranced happily on to the stage to sing the national anthems of India and Japan too, they found to their confusion that there was no sound track to support them. After attempts by the managing team to rectify the situation, the sound track spluttered into life and the kids gallantly sang the anthems. That was not the end of the story. When they came again on to the stage to perform a traditional dance of the Japanese fishermen, they had to hold their pose (balancing on their toes) and were left like that for some time ufffd for again the music track was missing!u00a0 Land of Rising Sun Japanese films are being showcased as part of 'country focus' at this festival. Welcoming this move, Patel said: "No study of cinema is complete without a look at Japanese masters like Kurosawa. I hope Japan gets the Best Film in the world cinema category." There was a special exhibition of Japanese food and art. Children from the Bombay Japanese School travelled all the way from Mumbai to perform a traditional drum presentation, a fishermen's dance and to the surprise of the audience, they even swayed to some Bollywood beats! They gyrated and twisted to Bollywood hits like And we twist and Let's have some raunak, shaunak much to the delight of the audience. The Japanese Consul General demonstrated a sword-fighting act. Then a local martial art academy, Rajesh Thakkar's Academy, also demonstrated the power of martial arts. u00a0 Down memory lane After receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, actress Shashikala expressed her disappointment that she did not get any heroine's role but only vampish ones. She recalled how her life and career initially was full of struggle and she was noticed by actress and singer Noor Jahan. She kept a very busy schedule, but despite the wealth and fame, she felt incomplete, "that something was missing," and she found peace only after meeting Mother Teresa.u00a0 u00a0Renowned music director Khayyam, who received the prestigious S D Burman award, confessed that his career in music was accidental. He observed that "lyrics are very important and once one has good lyrics", setting them to tune is indeed "divine". He recalled some of his memorable experiences in the film world.u00a0 "I feel blessed to have worked with some great lyricists, shayars and poets," he said. He believed that his contribution to Indian music was to educate the masses.

At chaotic opening ceremony, Japanese children left trying to balance on their toes as music stops abruptly during dance number

Camera zooms in on Japan

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