Behind the curtain: Anupama Chopra on the magic and mania of film festivals

They’re stressful. They're chaotic. And the memories are indelible – from bliss in the Himalayas, to being shouted at by irate viewers in the lobby of a PVR.

In nine years of helping to curate and organise film festivals, I’ve come to realise that this job requires a touch of masochism. These events are hellishly hard to pull together, with the first and biggest hurdle being raising the money.

My earliest taste of this was in 2014. The Mumbai Film Festival was in its death throes because no sponsor could be found (this is the largest privately funded festival in the country). I jumped into the fray because