Rajat Kapoor's directorial venture Raghu Romeo was screened on August 15 at the Locarno Film Festival. It received a great response and is now being touted as a must-see.

Rajat, who attended the festival, recounts his moments of glory.

August 13

In Locarno, more than films, everyone talks about the weather. It is a bit like the weather in Delhi.

I met an awful lot of people today. Watched Maria, a film from Romania that was highly recommended. Maria is based on a real life story about a woman with seven children and an alcoholic husband, who is also an out-of-work gambler. Things go bad to worse and finally lead her to a life of prostitution. Nothing new in the film, though. Mehboob Khan made Mother India years ago and it moves me even today. Not Maria, which is closer to Chandni Bar I think.

I could almost imagine the screenplay writers saying, 'Yeah, okay. This is bad. But come on! Let worse things happen to her.' This kind of realism in films seems very exploitative, voyeuristic and manipulative.

What with the heat and Maria, I had a headache. I would have loved to sleep but there was an interview to be done, followed by a special dinner for the Indian delegation, which was nice.

The night ended with a film by Godard, Forever Mozart, at the Piazza Grande. A great film. And I got my first taste of the screening at the piazza.

August 14

After some administrative work, like giving out photographs of Raghu Romeo, putting up a poster and distributing folders, we went for lunch. Trying to come to a consensus on food is always difficult!

The ambience at the festival office is great. People keep dropping in.

There is a cafe open from 6-8 pm where drinks are free for the delegates. I must say we were very well looked after; so what if I don't drink! In the afternoon, I slept for an hour because the night was going to be a long one.

The 9.30 film at the Piazza Grande was Die Mommie Die, an American film. Quite nice. It was funny and sexually aggressive. The lead actress' role was played by a man in drag and the film was shot like a 1950s Hollywood film. A very successful take-off; but the audience was a little cold. The organisers were very disappointed because they thought the audience would lap it up. Can't please them all, can you?

That was followed by Federico Fellini's Casanova. I had seen the film earlier but to see it at the Piazza Grande was a delight. Even in Italian with French subtitles. Visually stunning film.

And then to Grand Hotel for a party.

It is amazing how the place, which is so quiet during the day, is completely transformed at night. There must have been a thousand people there -- drinking, talking and laughing. Very alive; very Italian!

When I left at 4 am, the place was still buzzing.

August 15

This was a big day for us so we started early with a couple of interviews. Then, we were taken for a press conference, followed by photographs and more interviews. After that, a very good lunch. So far so good.

After the usual afternoon rest, we were off to the castle for another special dinner. I met the legendary Cuban director, Humberto Solas.

Half-way through dinner, I started getting the heebie-jeebies. I lost my appetite. There was just an hour-and-a-half to go for the screening of Raghu Romeo.

I left the dinner early and walked down to the piazza, looking for my friends -- four of them had come from Zurich and two from Florence. I gave them their passes, hugged them and then just walked through the audience. Scary! There were already 10,000 of them. The piazza was packed. The word about the film was already good.

I was nervous as hell. As if I was going to perform.

Everyday, the screening would start on the dot. Not today. We were told they had a problem switching off the lights! Never heard of such a problem. I told them that in India, we often had problems switching the lights on, never switching them off! Well, different culture, different problems!

We -- Saurabh Shukla; Maria Goretti, Vijay Raaz and [music composer] Pritam Chakraborty -- sat together near the stage. It was so good to have them around.

Before we went on stage, [director] Ken Loach was given an award by [director] Ettor Scola. Something like a Lifetime Achievement award. It was an honour to go on the stage where just a second before such legends had been standing.

We were introduced and then... the film began.

Once again, my heart was in my mouth. But the audience soon started reacting to the film. They laughed at the right moments and they loved the songs. At the end of a rap number, there was a round of applause. Man, it was really gratifying!

The image looked so huge and good and the projection was brilliant. How I missed my cameraman Rafey Mahmood! He would have loved it. All his good work, looking so great!

The film ended to another round of applause. And we hugged each other.

I wasn't sure if I was happy or not! People kept congratulating and praising me. The party that night at Grand Hotel was especially good. Strangers saying, "Bravo!"

It was nice to be with teammates and friends. They drank, while I was high on orange juice. As usual, the night got over at 5 am.

August 16

We relived the moment over a relaxed breakfast. Pritam and Vijay went shopping, Saurabh returned to his room and Maria and [her husband] Arshad Warsi left for the railway station to change their bookings for the third time.

I went to the festival office, got the reimbursement for my tickets and learnt about the awards. Khamosh Pani from Pakistan won the top award and Kiron Kher shared the Best Actress award with two others.

Our film was not in the competition section, so there was no anxiety.

I met a couple of buyers who loved the film. They made an offer to buy Raghu Romeo for Switzerland and German-speaking Europe! This is good news.

From there on, it was downhill. A formal dinner from where I escaped in 15 minutes, and the award ceremony, where I had to present an award. Maria and Arshad had left for Budapest, so part of the energy was gone.

The closing party that night was near the pool and very crowded. People were quite drained out after five nights of partying.

Of course, I was up till 5 am. Then, I packed my bags and left for Milano at 6.30 am. I was dog-tired and a little sad, as my dream was over.

They tell me that Locarno is a sleepy old town for the rest of the year. I never want to go there when the festival is not on. I want to keep memories of this dream with me.

Design: Uday Kuckian