After rushes of Madhubala's classic sequences from Mughal-e-Azam, Amisha Patel committed showbiz blasphemy by dancing to Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya. An uninspiring effort.

Then, just when you thought it was safe to look back towards the stage, came Rekha's mythic number from Umrao Jaan. Only, in this case it was performed by Paksitani actress Meera, in what seems a nightmarish precursor to J P Dutta's planned remake.

Urmila Matondkar is a pretty good dancer, and it was fine to see her doing Chhamma Chhamma. The problem, however, was that it wasn't her opening number. She kicked off her routine with what is possibly Madhuri Dixit's most iconic song, Tezaab's Ek do teen. While she can mimic the moves, the dingdongding track was more about the grin and less, Urmila dear, about the skin. Not a very good idea, choosing this song.

In sum, the inauguration of IFFI 2005 was quite a bit longer than it should have been. We were treated to audiovisuals and we clapped at the first montage. But when we yawned through the seventh, it really wasn't exciting anymore. And a horrific audio glitch - that lasted a full 15 minutes - didn't help.

There were some awful performances. Goa's own musician, Remo Fernandes, was conspicuous by his absence, and his stand-in Hema Sardesai, was far too loud. Himesh Reshammiya took the stage a couple of times, and, obviously, sang Aashiq banaaya aapne.

Daisy, Neetu and Nargis, the irrelevant women from Garam Masala, sadly attempted Kajra re. And, in a rare appearance, percussion guru Ranjit Barot slapped some skin and tried his hand at some vocal-jazz. The talented man with a beard (who most mistook, understandably, for Shankar Mahadevan) was here because he has composed the music for Pooja Bhatt's upcoming Holiday. Again, we were forced to sit through every possible promo for the film.

But there was optimism. There was a fresh-looking jury, a Brazilian film (Olga) opening the festival, and lots of excitement as the show ended -- if only because the eardrum-shattering event was finally over. But delegates and audience members looked excited, and happy.

Maybe it's just all the Goa in the air.