Too many films. Too little time. Nearly 200 films from more than 40 countries are being shown during the 11-day film festival in Goa, India. Add to this the daily grind of press conferences and interviews. Aaargh! To attend or not to attend, that is the question.

I really have to catch up on sleep — yawning during a screening of Ingmar Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” is really not a good sign. But thanks to much of Bollywood ignoring the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) this year, I don’t have the added stress of chasing popular actors.

Fans go berserk when they spot a Bollywood star - and thankfully I haven’t been witness to much of that here. The only exception was Shah Rukh Khan. At a party on the night of the opening ceremony, security personnel had a tough time keeping fans away from the VIP area. I remember one teenager rushing back in triumph, screaming “I touched him!” and being congratulated by some of her less unfortunate peers.

Excitement also built up around Amitabh Bachchan attending the Indian premiere of “The Last Lear” on Friday with fans lining up on both sides of the red carpet. But disappointment was writ large on their faces when only director Rituparno Ghosh walked in.

Not surprisingly, regional-language actors and directors have been able to move around freely. In fact, after the screening of filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Malayalam-language “Naalu Pennungal” (Four Women), a woman walked past actress Geethu Mohandas, looked back and asked “Weren’t you in this film?”

And when I was talking to director Sameer Hanchate, whose film “Gafla” (Scam) is being screened here, a man selling mobile phone connections walked up to him and asked if he wanted one.

Well, the glitz and glamour may be missing from Goa this time but no one’s really complaining. After all, a film festival should be about good films and IFFI 2007 is a success on that count.