/> It was meant to be the first exposure on an international forum for Shirish Kunder's Jaan-e-Mann. The film was chosen as the closing film at the South Asian Film Festival which concluded in New York on Monday.

However on the closing day there was no sign of Jaan-e-Mann at the festival—an unheard-of oversight that left the prestigious festival's directorate flummoxed and irritated.

Says a source from New York, "It was a very embarrassing moment for Bollywood. You must understand that the South Asian Film Festival is a posh forum for Bollywood. Films that get screened here are picked up by distributors all over the world."

So what went wrong? According to producer Sajid Nadiadwala, "The final copy came on Monday morning. So we couldn't make it."

Says Anupam Kher who features in the cast in the role of a dwarf, "It's very unfortunate. I was excited because I was in both the opening and closing films at the South Asian film festival. While our opening film Tanuja Chandra Hope & A Little Sugar has been enthusiastically received at the festival, Shirish Kunder's Jaan-e-Mann has been deprived of its moment of glory. Never mind. Nobody can take way from what Shirish has done. He has made a path-breaking film."