Simi Garewal, Nikhil Advani and the finest Australian
film talent come together as the IFFM Jury
The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) – the
southern hemisphere's greatest annual celebration of Indian cinema – today
announces details for their much anticipated 2018
program.
Taking place from 10-22
August under the unifying theme of ‘Inclusion’, this year’s Festival offers all
Australians the opportunity to explore the richness and diversity of
contemporary Indian cinema, from Bollywood box-office hits, documentaries and
art-house premieres, to a Bollywood dance competition and master classes with
key figures from the Indian film industry.
The festival this year will see over 60
films in 22 languages. The line up of this year’s festival
boasts of a diverse and distinct range of films, many of which will premiere
for the first time in Australia and some that have had critical success in the
biggest festivals of the world. Over 13 days audiences will
get to watch stories about Sex trafficking, a bangle seller and his wife, about
an old lady reminiscing about her past. They can devour the diversity of India
with films like Bhasmasur that talks about debt and a father son relationship,
Ahare Mon which discusses the types of people who are allowed to fall in love
and Juze, that talks about the misuse of power and emotional harassment.
They’ll get a taste of mind games with films like In the Shadows and Paddayi, a whiff of Bollywood grandeur
with films like Padmavat and will fall in love with movies like Hichki and
Chumbak. The festival truly has something for everyone.
This year’s competition section also portrays the
diversity of Indian cinema proudly. The jury members will choose between 6
categories. The categories are Best Film, Best Indie Film, Best Actor, Best
Director, Best Supporting Role and Best Director. The nominations under each
category have been given below.
BEST FILM: Padman, Hichki, Padmaavat, Sanju,
Secret Superstar, Raazi, Mahanati, Rangasthalam
BEST INDIE FILM: In the shadows, Village
Rockstars, Balekempa, Up, Down and Sideways (Documentary), Mayurakshi, Garbage,
Sir, Love Sonia
BEST ACTOR : Ranbir Kapoor for Sanju, Varun Dhawan
for October, Ranveer Singh for Padmaavat, Akshay Kumar for Padman, Manoj
Bajpayee for In the Shadows, Fahadh Faasil for The Exhibit and the Eyewitness,
Soumitra Chaterjee for Mayurakshi, Shahid Kapoor for Padmaavat
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE: Vicky Kaushal for
Sanju, Ranvir Shorey – In the Shadows, Samantha Akkineni – Mahanati, Richa
Chadha – Love Sonia, Freida Pinto – Love Sonia, Trimala Adhikari – Garbage,
Meher Vij- Secret Superstar
BEST DIRECTOR: Rajkumar Hirani for Sanju, Shoojit
Sircar for October, R. Balki for Padman, Siddharth P Malhotra for Hichki,
Advait Chandan for Secret Superstar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Padmaavat, Rima
Das for Village Rockstars, Dipesh Jain for In the Shadows, Ere Gowda for
Balekempa, Suresh Triveni For Tumhari Sulu, Meghna Gulzar For Raazi, Tabrez
Noorani – Love Sonia, Rohena Gera for Sir
BEST ACTRESS:
Rani Mukherjee for Hichki, Vidya Balan for Tumhari Sulu, Deepika
Padukone for Padmaavat, Alia Bhatt for Raazi, Bhanita Das for Village
Rockstars, Keerthy Suresh for Mahanati, Tillotama Shome for Sir, Zaira Wasim
for Secret Superstar
Films like Konkona Sharma’s Death in the Gunj,
Alankrita Shrivastava’s Lipstick under my Burkha, Shakun Batra’s Kapoor and
Sons, Vikramaditya Motwane’s Trapped, Nitesh Tiwari’s Dangal, M Manikandan’s
Kaaka Muttai, Vishal Bharadwaj’s Haider and Rahul Bose’s Poorna have all been
winners at the IFFM Awards.
Mitu Bhowmick Lange, the director says, “ Our
competition section is as diverse as the films and people who come for the
festival. It has some mainstream, indie and regional films but the one thing
they share no matter what the language or theme is that it is fantastic eye
catching cinema. That's always been the goal of the festival to appreciate and
applaud those who create films for their audiences. The directors who think
about what the fans will like and bring to the screen so many real stories, the
actors and actresses who deliver on that to make it most believable and the
supporting actors who carry the film and actor on their shoulders. We've had an
array of brilliant films even in the past, whether they were edgy, quirky, hard
hitting or plain beautiful. Our jury is a mix of Australian and Indian directors,
producers and actors who together make for the perfect jury with experiences in
two different industries but share a common thread, the love for cinema. I
cannot wait to see what they choose, especially what our Australian Filmmakers
select.”
The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne also proudly
presents its jury members which consists of notable directors, writers, actors
and editors from India and Australia, namely Simi Garewal, Sue Maslin, Jill
Bilcock, Andrew Anastaisos, Nikhil Advani and Geoffrey Wright.
Simi Garewal needs no introduction, the veteran
actress and talk show host is a festival favourite. Sue Maslin is one of Australia’s finest film
and television content producers and has produced films like The Dressmaker,
Japanese Story and Hunt Angels. Jill Bilcock is one of the world’s leading
editors, having worked with prominent film directors like Sam Mendes, Baz
Luhrmann and has worked on films like Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo Di
Caprio and Claire Dane and Moulin Rouge starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan
McGregor to name a few. Andrew Anastaisos is a script researcher and a writer.
Mainly a television series writer, Andrew has co-written the Russell Crowe
starrer The Water Diviner. Nikhil Advani has been making Bollywood films for
over 2 decades now and producing them for over 10
years, having worked with the biggest names from Shahrukh Khan to Akshay Kumar,
Rani Mukerji and Abhishek Bachchan. Geoffrey Wright is an Australian director
of the cult classic, Romper Stomper which is also the film that gave Russell
Crowe his big break. He has adapted Macbeth into film and has written and
directed for the small screen as well.
The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne was
established in 2012 as an initiative of the Victorian Government and
has established itself as an important part of State’s cultural calendar. In 2016,
the festival was honoured. With the much respected Melbourne Award for
contribution in Multiculturalism.
