Tenth Annual MIAAC Film Festival - November 10-14, 2010

Ekta latest production gets standing ovation at film festival in New York

Ekta and Tusshar Kapoor screened their latest film Shorr to a standing ovation at the 10th Annual Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival in New York at the SVA Silas Theatre in Manhattan on November 10. This is Ekta's first trip abroad to attend an international film festival.

Ekta, who is currently holidaying in New York, said: "It was overwhelming! At $50 a ticket we had a packed house. Mira Nair congratulated me saying what a powerful film it was.

SHOR

Siblings Tusshar and Ekta Kapoor with the Shorr team

We didn't expect such a response! Dipti Naval and others in the audience were clapping in the end. It was a very classy crowd in Manhattan and we could hear whistles, laughs and claps.

The audience cheered throughout the film. One of our actors Sendhil Ramamurthy Sendil was extremely excited. He has been to festivals before but not got this reaction for earlier films."

The buzz is that Ekta finds Sendhil very hot and that was one of the reasons she went to the film festival. "Oh yes! I find Sendhil very attractive, charming and a really cool guy."

After his performance as a mute character in Golmaal 3, Tusshar has managed to impress sis Ekta with another raw, edgy performance in Shorr.

"Yes, Tusshar has shocked me! I think Shorr is his best performance to date."

Ekta says her production company produced Shorr because after Love Sex Dhokha she wanted to be sure that their production company Alts Entertainment's next had to be different.

"We didn't want any sex but yet it would be as powerful a subtle film that doesn't have a predictable end."

The premiere was attended by Ekta Kapoor, Balaji Motion Pictures CEO Tanuj Garg, director-duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK (Flavours, 99), actors Tusshar Kapoor, and Sendhil Ramamurthy of the hit TV series Heroes and Covert Affairs fame. Also in attendance were Mira Nair, Nandana Sen, Padma Lakshmi, Sarita Choudhury, Deepti Naval, Tannishtha Chatterjee, and Rahul Bose, among others.

Shorr is a gritty, funny composite portrait of Mumbai inspired from various daily newspaper stories. Recently, Shorr garnered rave reviews at the prestigious Pusan Film Festival in South Korea, where it was officially invited in the festival's Asian showcase.