‘Madaar’ made by Badar steals the show at 21st Pune International Film Festival

Pune, February 9: Marathi Film ‘Madaar’ directed by Mangesh Mahadev Badar won the Government of Maharashtra’s Sant Tukaram Best International Marathi Film Award at the closing ceremony of the 21st Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) held at the Sakal Lalit Kalaghar at Mukundnagar on Thursday.

‘Madaar’ also won several other awards including Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal Best Director Award, which was bagged by Mangesh Badar. For Madaar, actor Milind Shinde won the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal Best Actor Award, while Amruta Agarawal won the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal Best Actress Award. The Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal Best Cinematographer Award for the film was won by Akash Bankar and Ajay Balerao.

Meanwhile , Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal Best Screenplay Award was won by Rahul Awate for the film ‘Panchak’. The Special Mention Jury Award for the Director was bagged by Kavita Datir and Amit Sonawane for ‘Giraki’ while the Special Mention Jury Award for Art Director was won by Kunal Vedpathak for the film ‘Diary of Vinayak Pandit’.

The Government of Maharashtra Prabhat International Best Film Award was won by the film ‘Tori and Lokita’ directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc-Dardenne. The Government of Maharashtra Best International Best Director Award and the MIT-SFT Human Spirit Award was won by Maryna Er Gorbach for the film ‘Klondike’.

In the world competition, the special jury mention for the film was won by ‘Boy From Heaven’ directed by Tarik Saleh, while the Special Jury Mention for the actress was won by Lubna Azabel for the film ‘The Blue Caftan’.

The awards were presented by host of dignitaries including Sudhir Mungatiwar, Maharashtra Cultural Minister, Chandrakant Patil Pune District Guardian Minister and well-known actress Vidya Balan.

Addressing the gathering Sudhir Mungatiwar urged the film fraternity to include Environmental issues in the films, which may help raise awareness about the ecological problems.

“When I became the finance minister, I had asked where Maharashtra stood economically in the world and I got to know that it was at 36th rank. Likewise when I became the cultural minister, I again asked where the state stood and I got to know it was on the 10th position. Accordingly, the government is considering having Film-based Equity on the lines of the stock markets,” he said.

Chandrakant Patil requested the cultural minister to give Pune a Film Studio, which can be useful for shooting of films.

Vidya Balan said, “I was skeptical whether people visit theatres to watch the films as all the content is available online. However, the festival has proved that it is unique as people had been thronging the theatres to watch the films.”

Dr. Jabbar Patel, Director of PIFF made the opening remarks after a musical program by National Award Winning Vocalist Rahul Deshpande and Priyanka Barve.