Mamatastruck: Bhattacharjee announces the Calcutta Film Festival at Nandan on Tuesday. Aranya Sen

Mamata Banerjee has hit Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee where it hurts. Not by calling him the “the biggest pickpocket of democracy” (which she did at Nandigram on Tuesday afternoon), but by robbing him of the simple pleasure of watching films.

“I try to watch as many films as I can, that are chosen for the Calcutta Film Festival, but this time I haven’t been able to watch many films,” rued Bhattacharjee at Nandan on Tuesday evening.

The chief minister could not mask his disappointment at being denied — by the work pressure in office — of the chance to pursue his passion.

Performing the annual ritual of announcing his pet project, he said not once but twice that he had, unlike other years, failed to make time to watch most of the films (228 from 56 countries) picked for the 15th Calcutta Film Festival starting November 10.

“The chief minister never manages to watch all the films that we screen at the festival but compared with the previous years this time he’s definitely watched fewer films,” added festival director Nilanjan Chatterjee.

Mamata (and some would add Prakash Karat) may have left the chief minister with little movie-watching time, but that hasn’t stopped him from being the boss of the film festival and forcing a budget squeeze.

The budget this year is “Rs 1.25 crore”, compared to last year’s Rs 1.4 crore. The cost cutting has seen the number of delegates slashed to seven from last year’s 60. “I have personally screened the delegates and got rid of all the after-parties to reduce costs,” he said.

Bhattacharjee and festival chairman Soumitra Chatterjee will host two tea parties instead of the lavish dinner parties in an obvious show of austerity to silence detractors.

The eight-day fare to be inaugurated by Mani Ratnam begins with a screening of a UK-US collaboration, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. “I have watched this film. It’s worth seeing,” said Bhattacharjee, as if to prove that he had at least managed to watch a few.

When asked about the festival’s relevance in these politically troubled times, he said: “Watching quality films is often an answer to problems and issues that crop up in our lives and in society.”

Wonder if he will catch a film called Mati O Manush in the Indian Select section.