Award for Priyadarshan

At the seventh Asian Film Festival,filmmaker Priyadarshan was awarded the festival’s most prestigious Zenith Asia Award for his film Kanjeevaram,at the National Films Archive of India (NFAI) on Sunday. The award was presented by veteran Marathi actor Vikram Gokhale,who has worked with the director in two films.

Priyadarshan said,“It is a great encouragement for me. As a director,I feel such film festivals provide a platform for film-makers to showcase meaningful cinema.” The director thanked the audience for appreciating his film,which is an analysis of the idea of communism. “Priyan is an intelligent director who understands the particular body language required for each shot. On his sets,he is the boss but he treats everyone equally,” said Gokhale.

While Priyadarshan didn’t have any release in 2011,the coming year has films such as Tez,Malamaal Weekly-2,The Arab,The Camel and P Madhavan Nair,which is a remake of the original comedy that had Malayalam actor Mohanlal in the lead role. He is also making a film that will tackle the subject of AIDS in a lighter vein. On being asked about Marathi projects,he said,“I want to make films in two more languages,Marathi and Bengali,but I will do those some time before I retire.”