Kaafiron Ki Namaaz wins top honours at ladakh International Film Festival
The third edition of the ladakh International Film Festival (lIFF) concluded with Kaafiron Ki Namaaz by two Mumbai-based youngsters winning the maximum accolades.
The movie, shot in Kashmir, won the best feature film, best screenplay, best actor (shared by Alok Chaturvedi and late Chandrahas Tiwari) and best debut director for 26-year-old Ram Ramesh Sharma at the closing ceremony held at the Sindhu Sanskriti Kendra.
The film’s producer, Bhargav Saikai and Sharma, are dropouts of Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International film institute. They left their course midway to make Kaafiron Ki Namaaz.
The closing ceremony started with the screening of much-awaited Hollywood film Transformers: Age Of Extinction.
The ceremony, hosted by actress Shilpa Shukla, saw the presence of names like Deepti Naval, Rajit Kapur, and Shaji N Karun. Meanwhile, festival director Melwyn Williams was conspicuous by his absence.
Members of the jury, which was presided over by Govind Nihalani, had praised Kaafiron Ki Namaaz for its gripping, powerful narrative and interesting storytelling format.
Nihalani had left on the second day of lIFF, which was held in this Jammu and Kashmir region for three days.
The festival, this year, began with Kamal Swaroop’s Rangbhoomi and it also saw the Asia premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Bollywood -The Greatest love Story Ever Told.
Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly, which created waves at the Cannes International Film Festival earlier this year, left the audience full of filmmakers, army trainees and media, numb with its ‘ugliness.’
The thriller about complex relationships around a tragedy, its underlying connotation and stupendous performances left the audience numb. However, more details about the film’s story cannot be divulged.
The filmmaker, who was present for the screening, made an earnest request to the media, saying: “Please do not reveal anything about the film on social media or in the media as it will affect the film when it releases.”
Kashyap, known for movies like Black Friday and Dev D, was elated to be in the serene surroundings of Jammu and Kashmir region. Before the film screening at the third edition of ladakh International Film Festival (lIFF), he shared tidbits about his journey behind the making of Ugly.
“Everyone was gung-ho after Gangs Of Wasseypur, and that’s when I thought that ‘now is the time to do it.’ I kind of made Ugly without telling a lot of people because knowing how scared our producers and studios are, they wouldn’t have let the film be made,” quipped the acclaimed filmmaker.
The movie showcased at lIFF was a different version than the one screened for the global audience at Cannes. “Someone had seen some rushes of Ugly in February or March (this year) and asked me to rush it for Cannes. And the film has been edited again after the Cannes screening. Also, I was fighting a court battle, which I have lost... so now, Ugly is finally releasing on September 19 with the ‘Smoking is injurious to health’ logo, which I totally detest,” Kashyap said.
When asked why he chose the title Ugly, he said: “There was no better title. It came naturally to me.” Once the audience saw the film, they truly knew what he meant — as it was the ‘ugliness’ in the characters that left the lasting impact on the audience’s minds.
Actors like Ronit Roy, Rahul Bhat (who played the lead role in TV show Heena) and Tejaswini Kolhapure, who played leading lady in Kashyap’s Paanch, have delivered stellar performances in the film. For those who don’t have a weak heart, it’s a must watch when it hits the silver screen.