One has often heard reports of ''star crazy'' people in foreign countries vying with one another to have an audience with charismatic film stars, be it the legendary Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand in the 50s and 60s, Rajesh Khanna in the 70s, Amitabh Bachchan and Mithun Chakraborty in the 80s and 90s or Shahrukh, Hrithik or Urmila Matondkar in the new millennium.

However, the International film festival in Marrakesh held last week saw a different kind of star being feted by the local audience.

The spotlight at the 5th annual Marrakesh International Film Festival, which concluded on November 19 at Marrakesh was on the ''badshah of romance'' Yash Chopra, a filmmaker who has lighted the Indian silver screen with his cinematic gems over the years and whose name, in the last few years, has become synonymous with box office success what with his films ‘Saathiya', ‘Hum Tum', ‘Veer Zaara', ‘Dhoom' and ‘Bunty Aur Babli' turning out to be stupendous successes at a time when several big starrers were falling like ninepins at the box office.

Such was the craze, among the local audience, of meeting Yash Chopra that the presence of the debonair actor Saif Ali Khan, who was also present, for once seems to have gone unnoticed, trade sources say.

Yash Chopra and Saif Ali Khan were special guests at the Marrakesh Film Festival, where 16 of Yash Chopra's films, including the most recent ‘Veer Zaara', were screened over a period of eight days.

Invited to the festival along with Hollywood greats like renowned filmmakers Martin Scorcese and Abbas Kiarostami and actress Judi Dench, Yash Chopra was feted at a special dinner hosted in his honour by his Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rashid at the Royal Palace. He was later also conferred a special award at Place Jemaa El Fna, the venue of the festival.

During a screening of ‘Veer Zaara', a film on the idea of Indo-Pak friendship, an enthusiastic crowd of over 5000 strong local Moroccans equated Yash Chopra as among the ''three gems'' of India, the other two being the Taj Mahal and Lata Mangeshkar.

Later, after attending a screening of ‘Kal Ho Na Ho' at the festival, Saif told the audience that he was representing Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta, his co-stars in the film. The adulation and love of the people for Indian films and stars left Saif overwhelmed.

Speaking about the experience, Yash Chopra says,''it was an experience that proved... love and cinema has no language, cast, colour or creed.''