Top honour for Marathi movie at Germany festival

In the film,two adolescent cousins and best friends Sameer and Nachiket play a game of hide-and-seek in a rather unusual way – where one cousin hides in death and the other is looking for him in the life around him.

The jury acknowledged the film as a sensitive display of family boundaries and friendship. Produced by AB Corp Ltd,the film stars Umesh,Mohan Agashe,Sulbha Deshpande,Girish Kulkarni,Amruta Subhash,Madan Deodhar,Parna Pethe,Aalok Rajwade and Sharvi Kulkarni.

“We are delighted to learn about the German Star of India award at the Bollywood & Beyond festival in Stuttgart. It is an honour that our Marathi film Vihir has won this recognition. Vihir has also been very well-received at other internation film festivals and we are happy that our regional language film has gained such recognition world over,” Wg -Cdr Ramesh Pulaka,CEO,AB Corp Ltd.,said.

Nina Sabnani received the prize for the Best Short Film for her animated film Tanko Bole Chhe – The Stitches Speak. Anandana Kapur’s The Great Indian Jugaad was adjudged the best documentary film.

German director Lutz Kronermann received a special commendation of the jury for his documentary Dharavi – Slum For Sale. For his feature film debut Road To Sangam,Amit Rai was honoured with the ‘Director’s Vision Award’.

Out of the 50 festival entries,30 films were running in the competition for the prestigious prizes.

A special commendation went to Rahul Gandoha’s The Road Home,a boy’s quest for his identity. Raised as the son of Indian parents in London and now sent off to a boarding school in the Himalayas,the film shows changes perceptions of ethnic belonging.