The 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival kicked off in spectacular fashion on Wednesday night, May 4th, with the Opening Night celebration featuring the U.S. Premiere of the Delhi-set comedy "Do Dooni Chaar," Disney's first live-action Hindi film. The star-studded red carpet premiere, held at Manhattan's prestigious Paris Theater, was attended by special guests Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh Kapoor along with writer/director Habib Faisal. Also attending the premiere were Aparna Sen, Madhur Jaffrey, Aditya Bhattacharya, Ajay Naidu, Samrat Chakrabarti, Meetu Chilana, Rehana Mirza, Pulitzer Prize winner Siddhartha Mukherjee, Sarita Choudhury, Ami Sheth, Poorna Jagannathan, Dr. Mohan Agashe and many other actors and filmmakers whose films will play at NYIFF through Closing Night on Sunday, May 8th.
Following the screening of "Do Dooni Chaar" was a discussion with Faisal and the Kapoors moderated by festival director Mr. Aseem Chhabra which had the audience laughing throughout. A gala benefit dinner followed at the opulent Jumeirah Essex House on Central Park South.
Capping off five days of Indian cinematic excellence, the 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival came to a close in grand fashion on May 8th with the spectacular Closing Night red carpet premiere of Rituparno Ghosh's powerful film Noukadubi which was attended by Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh Kapoor, Salman Rushdie, Mira Nair, Aparna Sen, Madhur Jaffrey, Ambassador Prakash Shah, Consul General Prabhu Dayal, and many other notable celebrities. Following the premiere at Asia Society in Manhattan was the festival's annual awards ceremony.
The list of winners are:
Best Feature Film: Sthaniya Sambaad (Spring in the Colony), directed by Arjun Gourisaria & Moinak Biswas
Best Director: Aparna Sen, Iti Mrinalini
Best Actor: Rishi Kapoor, Do Dooni Chaar
Best Actress: Konkona Sen Sharma, Iti Mrinalini
Best Screenplay: Mohan Raghavan, T.D. Dasan Std. VI B
Best Documentary: Bhopali (Max Carlson)
Best Short Film: Just That Sort Of A Day (Abhay Kumar)
Photo courtesy: Michael Toolan |
