What started off as a mild undercurrent fuelled by a misunderstanding appears to have assumed the form of a full-fledged cold war between Amitabh Bachchan and family and organisers of the 36th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

As the festival enters the fifth day, the shadows of the ubiquitous Bachchans loom large over the event although none of them is actually physically present in Goa at the moment. In fact, the current first family of Mumbai filmdom seems to have decided to boycott the ongoing festival lock, stock and barrel.

Amitabh Bachchan, who was Monday admitted to a Delhi hospital with stomach pains, was among the most prominent invitees to the IFFI last year but was ignored this time.

He has at least four films in the festival programme - "Black" in the Mainstream section, "Paheli" in the Indian Panorama, as well as "Anand" and "Chupke Chupke" in the Hrishikesh Mukherjee tribute.

In happier times, the megastar would probably have been only too keen to attend the festival to pay a tribute to one of his all-time favourite directors, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, if not to promote his own relatively new films.

Son Abhishek Bachchan, too, has a key role in the Bengali-language Indian Panorama film, Rituparno Ghosh's "Antarmahal", which incidentally has been co-produced by the Bachchan-owned company AB Corp.

But at the screening of "Antarmahal" on Sunday afternoon, producer Jaya Bachchan was conspicuous by her absence. The company's CEO, Ramesh Pulapaka, represented AB Corp at the show.

The film's director couldn't make it to INOX Panaji either - he is currently shooting his next film in North Bengal - but he did convey a brief regret message to the audience through one of his actresses, Roopa Ganguly.

Jaya Bachchan, however, extended no such nicety to the festival organisers. Pulapaka, on his part, made a short, officious speech before quietly merging with the backdrop.

Jackie Shroff, Roopa Ganguly and Soha Ali Khan were present at the screening, but there was no sign of Abhishek. His name wasn't brought up even once during the presentation ceremony.

Is there any chance of the cold vibes between the Bachchans and the Directorate of Film Festivals ending any time soon?

Well, Amitabh is slated to be here on Dec 2 for the French Day bash on the invitation of French ambassador Dominique Girard. Not only is he expected to be present at the party, he is expected to make an important announcement on behalf of the French and probably his own production company.

But that still wouldn't be tantamount to a formal endorsement of the 36th IFFI by an obviously cut up Amitabh Bachchan.