Konkona Sen Sharma sweeps Best Director, Best Actress awards at New York Indian Film Festival

Mumbai: Konkona Sen Sharma has been named the Best Director for her directorial debut A Death in the Gunj and the Best Actress for Lipstick Under My Burkha at the 2017 New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF). “#NYIFF2017 Awards Winner Best Director is Konkona Sen Sharma @konkonas @chhabs @aroonshiv,” the official account of NYIFF announced on Twitter. Konkona, 37, won the award for directing the drama thriller which stars Kalki Koechlin, Vikrant Massey, Jim Sarbh and Tanuja. The film also features one of the last performances by veteran actor Om Puri, who passed away in January this year. “#NYIFF2017 Awards Winner Best Actress is @konkonas @chhabs @aroonshiv,” the account read. [caption id=“attachment_3432540” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Konkona Sen Sharma. Twitter[/caption] She received the top honour for her performance in Alankrita Shrivastava’s Lipstick Under My Burkha, a film which explores women’s sexuality. Alankrita also congratulated Konkona for her win at the festival on the microblogging site. “Yay! @konkonas wins best actress at @nyindianff for  @lipstickmovie #lipstickundermyburkha,” she wrote. K Kaladharan won the best actor for Malayalam film Ottayaal n Paatha (A Narrow Path) and Shubhashish Bhutiani’s Mukti Bhawan was declared the best film at the 17th annual film extravaganza. An Insignificant Man won the best documentary and Malayalam film Kammatipaddam was honoured for the screenplay. Onir’s film Aaba was declared the best short film at  the festival. Presented by the Indo-American Arts Council, the film festival took place from 30 April to 7 May.