Satabdi (left) directing Rituparna Sengupta for Om Shanti and Tapas on location

Calcutta, Nov. 11: If Bollywood delivered the blockbuster, trust Tollywood to dish out the theatre.

Hours after the curtains had fallen on the widely applauded inauguration of the Calcutta Film Festival, some missing but long faces were yet to forgive and forget. Not to mention the jibes from others and the guessing game on “what now?”

Two missing figures who stood out were Trinamul MPs and actors Satabdi Roy and Tapas Pal, whose absence from the Lok Sabha may not have drawn too much attention but whose presence was a given at a film-related event spearheaded by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Satabdi today said she would have stayed away from the inauguration even if it didn’t coincide with the schedule of the movie, Om Shanti, she is directing.

“It’s true that I was preoccupied with shooting yesterday evening. But that wasn’t the reason for me not attending the festival inauguration, particularly when it was a high-voltage Didi show. Actually, I had taken the decision to stay away. If I had the intention of going there, I would have deferred my shooting schedule,” Satabdi told The Telegraph this evening.

According to her, it was “hurting” to find that only a card was sent to her and not a single call went to her either from the government or from the festival organisers. “I don’t know who dealt with the invites. But, as an MP and also a long-time actress, can’t I feel aggrieved that nobody bothered to give me a call and make a request so that I attend the event? I don’t think I asked for too much. It’s hurting,” she added.

Tapas is also nursing the same grudge — that of being “neglected”.

The actor, who is starring in Satabdi’s film and was on location yesterday, said today: “I am not talking in the capacity of a Trinamul MP. Yesterday, I was busy with the shoot. Besides that, I did have a problem. I don’t want to blame any particular person. But as a Tollywood hero for three decades, can’t I expect a respectable treatment from the festival organisers? What would have cost them to request me personally rather than just sending me a card?”

Both Tapas and Satabdi said they did not have anyone particular in mind while airing their grievances.

However, sources close to them said they expected festival committee chairman Ranjit Mallick to personally make a request or depute “someone senior” in the industry to invite them.

Tollywood sources said that some guests were invited through text messages — besides the customary card — by Mamata and some through calls and texts by Mallick, Shibaji Panja, the festival convener, and Haranath Chakraborty, the festival committee member.

Haranath, a director, told The Telegraph today: “Satabdi Tollygunge-er meye, why do we have to invite her over phone? When the entire Tollywood is present to support the festival, why did she opt out?”

In order to buttress his case, the director made another point: “Satabdi’s husband (Mriganka Bandopadhyay) was present at the inaugural ceremony at Netaji Indoor on Thursday, as were Tapas’s wife (Nandini) and daughter.

“We did not invite anybody over phone. A guest card plus an invitation card for the inaugural ceremony was sent to both Satabdi and Tapas. Despite that why are they giving such meaningless statements? We have no idea.”

Another official cited the showbiz maxim “out of sight, out of mind”. “Given the scale of the inaugural ceremony, does it even matter whether they were present or not? It’s their loss. Nobody missed them.”

Did Mamata, too, not miss them?

“I didn’t get any call from Didi as to why I didn’t go. She is too busy. I also didn’t complain to her because she has too many things on her hands. It is not right to bother her about small things like this. But I am told that she had yesterday asked somebody why I did not go,” Satabdi said in reply to a question.

Tapas said Mamata hadn’t called him after the inauguration.

The word in the party is that Mamata didn’t like the fact that both Satabdi and Tapas skipped the festival inauguration as she felt that her entire “Trinamul family” should have attended, save those “out of town or preoccupied or unwell”.

“However, Didi does not appear to be in a mood to make it an issue as that would mean giving too much importance to Tapas and Satabdi,” said a senior Trinamul general secretary. “She would not be inclined to take action against them. After all, she realises they are also stars in their own right in Bengal and have their own egos.”

Trinamul’s all-India general secretary Mukul Roy said: “Both of them are performing well as Trinamul leaders and are good people. I don’t know about their grievances. But, after reaching Calcutta, I will try to know what happened.”