Indian film star Dev Anand drew a good response from Swedes and the Indian community when he arrived here to attend a five-day Indian film festival organised by the Sweden India Film Association (SIFA).

Dev Anand's much talked about film of early 1970s - "Hare Rama Hare Krishana" - was screened at the festival. The Swedish audience thoroughly enjoyed the film's music, particularly the songs "Dum maro dum" and "Dekho o diwano".

Thanking the organisers for inviting him, Dev Anand talked about his old days in the Indian film industry.

"Though I am proud of my nostalgia, still I am a man of the present. I am happy to visit Sweden and there is tremendous beauty here which I would like to use as the locales for my forthcoming films," he said.

Indian ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa said: "The festival is an attempt to bring Bollywood to Sweden, which has seen tremendous interest in India in recent times because of India's economic and tourism boom."

During the festival, which began Oct 8, films like "Swades", "Paheli", "Omkara", "Iqbal", "Maqbool", "Ekllavya" and "Darr" were screened. The festival began with the screening of "Gandhi My Father", which left the audience spell bound.