Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2021: Anurag Basu wins best director for Ludo; Suriya, Vidya Balan bag acting honours

Acclaimed actors Vidya Balan and Manoj Bajpayee as well as South star Suriya bagged top awards at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2021 (IFFM). Following the success of last year’s digital format, the 12th edition of the IFFM took place both physically and virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic. The physical format of the movie gala commenced on 12 August and came to closure on Friday. The digital edition will run till August 30 across Australia. Suriya, won the best actor prize for his performance in the Tamil-language biographical drama _Soorarai Pottru_ , based on the life of Captain GR Gopinath, a retired Army officer and founder of the low-cost airline Air Deccan. The movie also won the best feature film. “In my career, I felt bored with what I was doing after having worked for 20 years. I am thankful to my director Sudha, who has worked for four years on this film. The character of Maara will not be anything without her,” Suriya said at the virtual event. Balan was awarded best actress for her nuanced portrayal of an upright forest officer in the widely acclaimed film Sherni. “I’m thrilled to be receiving the award for Sherni which was shot during the pandemic. Thanks to my director Amit Masurkar, my producer Abundantia, who pulled all stops to make this film during these uncertain times. We received so much love for the film and this award is icing on the cake,” Balan said in her acceptance speech. The film, produced by T-Series and Abundantia Entertainment, released on Amazon Prime Video on 18 June. Vikram Malhotra, founder and CEO, Abundantia Entertainment said the entire team is delighted to have received the award for Sherni. Manoj Bajpayee and Samantha Akkineni won the best actor and best actress award in a series for The Family Man 2, created and directed by filmmaker duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. Bajpayee, 52, said he was thankful to all the jury members for honouring his performance. “I must mention cinema or series are both highly collaborative medium. And it would be highly embarrassing for me to take away the award to myself without mentioning everyone involved with it. “I am thankful to Amazon Prime Video, Raj and DK, but it’s the writers that make a lot of difference. Thank you to them for giving me the space to become this character,” the actor, who received the best actor award for Gali Guleiyan last year at the festival, said. Akkineni said she was grateful to Nidimoru and DK for giving her the opportunity to play a layered character in her digital debut outing. “Thanks to Raj and DK to see past the cute girl image I have and to give me this role which is so different from what I have done so far. To give me this character that has so many layers and such diverse parts to it,” she said. Ace filmmaker Anurag Basu picked up the best director trophy for the feature film Ludo, a dark comedy anthology featuring Abhishek A Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, Fatima Sana Shaikh among others. The best series award was given to Mirzapur season two. IFFM also honoured seasoned actor Pankaj Tripathi with the prestigious diversity in cinema award, while actor Nimisha Sajayan received an honorary mention for her film The Great Indian Kitchen. Tripathi, 44, said, she was grateful to all the writers and filmmakers for offering him great parts. He thanked filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who gave him the award, for discovering his talent in 2012 Gangs of Wasseypur. “I’m humbled. The award is inspiring for me, my craft. I’m grateful to all my directors, writers for having me part of their projects,” Tripathi said. The equality in cinema (Short Film) award was given to Sheer Qorma, while The Great Indian Kitchen won the equality in cinema award in the feature film category. Fire in the Mountains, directed by Ajitpal Singh, won best indie film and disruptor award went to Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. The best documentary film was Shut Up Sona.