Bhattacharjee comes out of Nandan. (Aranya Sen)

Calcutta, Nov. 15: She in a white sari with a green border was marching to drumbeats in Hooghly, when he in a white dhoti with a green border stepped into Nandan with a sombre visage.

While Mamata Banerjee played to the galleries this afternoon, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee stuck to his comfort zone, hosting a tea party for a handpicked few to talk about films.

For the first few minutes of the low-key affair that used to be star-studded event, the chief minister appeared deep in thought, only to ease up once he mingled with faces from the film industry: Mrinal Sen, Tarun Majumdar, Ashoke Viswanathan, Arindam Sil, Ushasie Chakraborty, Anindita Sarbadhicary, Badshah Moitra and some foreign delegates.

After having his first cup of tea with Sen, Bhattacharjee rose to talk to Hungarian filmmaker Marta Meszaros before settling down for a long chat, over another cup of tea, with Team Tollywood.

“The chief minister was in the mood for adda. He talked about films, both classic and contemporary, and those being screened at the festival. He played the perfect host,” said actor Arindam.

The chief minister was also seen discussing the weather and more with industrialists Harsh Neotia, H.M. Bangur and Mahendra Jalan.

But did the thin turnout — 20-odd guests plus government officials — mean that many had stayed away? “About 95 per cent of those invited turned up for the party,” said Nandan CEO and film festival director Nilanjan Chatterjee.