"Have you ever heard any film festival being inaugurated at a stadium? The film festival is losing its character and seriousness. It is a film festival and not a circus," the 77-year-old actor, best known as Satyajit Ray's 'Apu' and 'Feluda', said.
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan along with actors Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma had yesterday inaugurated the 18th Kolkata International Film Festival.
Chatterjee said the organisers should have retained the usual venue of the state-run auditorium Nandan for the inauguration ceremony.
"Let's not belittle it by moving away from tradition," the Dadasahab Phalke awardee said.
The change of venue was West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's idea of taking the film festival closer to the masses by holding the inaugural session inside the indoor stadium, which has a seating capacity of more than 15,000 people.