The 13th edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne began on August 12th and will conclude on August 30th. This event, held annually in Australia, celebrates the Indian film industry by screening some of the most popular and acclaimed movies, web series and shows from the country. The attraction for this event is the awards night, where select awards are given to the best performances in Indian cinema and the OTT from previous year.
The event hosted by Rithvik Dhanjiani, the event saw big victories for Kabir Khan’ s sports drama ‘83’ and its star Ranveer Singh. Amazon Prime Video’ s web series Mumbai Diaries 26/11 and film Jalsa. Two most appreciated movies that failed to win an award were Gangubai Kathiawadi and Jai Bhim.
Shefali Shah, bagged the ‘Best Actor-Female’ award for her amazing performance in the movie ‘Jalsa.’ Actor Vaani Kapoor was awarded for her breath-taking performance and given the ‘Distributor in Cinema award’ in ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui.’ She adds, “It’ s so special and kind of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and Mitu to recognize such a film and giving so much dignity, respect and love and accepted it and to have a great inclusion of Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui in a film festival. It feels so special and surreal.”
Abhishek Bachchan was awarded the ‘Leadership in Cinema Award’. Also, Mr. Kapil Dev was awarded with Lifetime Achievement Award. Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar and Aparna Sen won for Sardar Udham and The Rapist respectively. Mohit Raina and Sakshi Tanwar also got the Best Actor and Actress award for their web series Mumbai Diaries 26/11 and MAI respectively.
The event will take place till August 20th in Melbourne and will also be virtually accessible from August 13-30. More than 100 critically acclaimed films across 23 languages are being screened.
