You can’t really forget your first sight of Goa as the plane lands. Before you is the shimmering blue of the Arabian Sea, the golden sands of its world-famous beaches and the leafy green of limitless palm groves.

It’s pleasant weather here - peak tourist season has just kicked off - and the place has a global feel , so much so that foreigners don’t even merit curious glances from Goans. The states population is just 1.4 million but it doubles around this time - including many visitors from other parts of India .

It’s the fourth straight year the International Film Festival of India, is being held in this tourist haven, but despite being India’s largest, it hasn’t quite registered on the global festival map. But maybe there’s hope.

A chatty Italian festival goer on Day 2 was upbeat. Water is the connecting thread for film festivals, he said - Cannes and Venice and now Goa - and I would not argue. There is something refreshing about the breeze coming in from the Mandovi river as I wait on the waterfront next to the main venue.

And if beaches are the measure of a film festival’s success, you can’t really go wrong with Goa.

More on the films here in my next post.