Alia’s ‘Gangubai’, Suriya’s ‘Jai Bhim’ bag top nominations at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne

Mumbai, August 2

In the 13th edition of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), films such as ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, ‘Badhaai Do’, ‘Jai Bhim’, ’83’ and ‘Minnal Murali’ and many others have been nominated in the Best Film category.

This year’s big nominees include the starring leads and filmmakers / producers of films like ‘Jai Bhim’, ‘The Rapist’, ‘Gangubai Kathiwadi’, ’83’, ‘Badhaai Do’, ‘Sardar Udham’, among others.

Indie films nominations have acclaimed films including ‘Pedro’, ‘Once Upon a Time in Calcutta’, ‘Fair Folk’ amongst others, while ‘Urf’, ‘Ayena’, ‘Ladies Only’ are some of the Best Docu nominees.

Winners of Best Film, Best Indie Film and Best Documentary each win state of the art cameras from Black Magic Design apart from the award.

Another key highlight is that the Best Film winner automatically gets a nomination nod under the Best Asian Film category at the annual prestigious AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards).

This year too those awards will be included with Best Series, Best Actor in a Series and Best Actress in a Series. In these categories, ‘Mumbai Diaries’, ‘Aranyak’, ‘Mai’ and ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein’ are leading the nominations.

Actors Gopal Hegde for ‘Pedro’,  Rajkummar Rao for ‘Badhaai Do’, Ranveer Singh ’83’, Suriya, Tovino Thomas, Vicky Kaushal and Abhishek have been named in the Best Actor category.

While in the Best Actor (Female) section, names like Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Bhumi Pedenkar, Kokona Sen Sharma,  Lijomol Jose, Shefali Shah, Sreelekha Mitra and Vidya Balan are nominated.

Pakistani film ‘Joyland’, ‘Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom’ from Bhutan, Bangladesh movies such ‘No Man’s Land’ and Rehana Maryam Noor; and Sri Lankan film ‘The Newspaper’ have made it to the Best Film From Subcontinent.

The festival, which is presented by the Victorian Government, is an annual festival that takes place in Melbourne, Australia, and showcases  the best of films from India and the subcontinent. This year the festival starts August 12-20. The Awards night is all set to take place on August 14.

IANS