The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne had its
awards night yesterday, beginning on an all time high with Bollywood biggies
like Rani Mukerji and Rajkumar Hirani leading the pack of winners like Richa
Chadha and Vicky Kaushal to a rather lustrous 3rd
Day.
Sanju, which won Best Film, with leading man
Ranbir Kapoor bagging the Vanguard award, had a special screening at the La
Trobe University in Melbourne which was followed by a rather interesting
Q&A with director Rajkumar Hirani and writer Abhijat Joshi. The students
were quite interested in the interaction and as the evening flowed, so did the
session. With a rather fun repartee between the students and the esteemed
director and writer, relevant questions and responses flew back and forth as
Raju even answered the frequently asked question: Why did you make a biopic on Sanjay
Dutt? “We were actually writing Munnabhai immediately after PK when we happened
to meet Sanju. He was out on parole and we met at his place, when he started
venting out; things that were bottled up. He just didn't care who he spoke to.
He had to get it out. I always had a professional relationship with Sanju, but
that was one long evening. He has told us things about his life, things that I
didn't know and I thought, that's a wonderful story. Abhijat and I went over to
his place for 5 days and just kept recording while he spoke.
People know about the drugs and the controversies. But there are so many
aspects of his life that the people don't know about. We wanted to show the
world the other side of the story, the relationship he shared with his father, his
mother; the wonderful relationship he shared with one of his closest friends.
We wanted the audience to see that side of him,” the PK director replied.
Another highlight of the evening was the special
screening of the evergreen Siddhartha, starring the late Shashi Kapoor and Simi
Garewal, who gave a rather touching tribute to her co star and dear friend.
Held at HOYTS, the evening brought in an eager crowd of cinephiles who wanted
to watch this 1972 classic and get a feel of true cinema. A Q&A
session followed the screening and the veteran actress answered several
wonderful questions on the film and how it was way ahead of its time with much
élan. Remembering such an important member of the Hindi film industry, Simi
reminisced, “Shashi was my friend and fellow actor and it is very common in
India to praise someone after they've gone but I have always said this, Shashi
Kapoor was the perfect Co-star. You don’t want someone to interfere; you want
someone to support you when you’re acting. You want someone well behaved,
punctual, who is polite and courteous with everyone and he was exactly like
that. He was very professional and he had no ego at all he would shake hands
with everyone from the lighting technician to everyone else. He was amazing
that way and I don’t know another actor in the world who would work in
commercial cinema earn money from there and take it and put it into meaningful
films like Kalyug, 36 Chowringhee Lane
etc. But he had a passion for real cinema and he put his money where his mouth
was. He started the parallel cinema. We never had it before.”
Day 4 of the Indian Film
Festival closed on a positive and hopeful note, chronicling Sanju as a true
film for the masses and Siddhartha as a film for every generation. The Indian
Film Festival of Melbourne will continue holding screenings of wonderful films
from all across India and the subcontinent till 22nd
August, ensuring the Australian audiences revel in the truest sense of cinema.
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