Director Ram Kamal Mukherjee was surprised to receive a courier a day before the 21 days lockdown announcement from Cafe Irani Chai International Festival with a note from Festival Director Mohan Das. Ram Kamal Mukherjee won the Best Emerging Director for his bilingual Bengali/Hindi feature film Rickshawala. The festival was supposed to honour all the winners at a grand ceremony last week in Mumbai. International delegates and bureaucrats from Iran Embassy were supposed to attend the function. However due to the Pandemic Coronavirus, the organisers sent the prize through courier.

Ram Kamal’s film Rickshawala showcases the story of hand pulled rickshaw drivers in Kolkata. The film marks debut of Bollywood actor Avinash Dwivedi in Bengali cinema. The film is a tribute to Om Puri and Balraj Sahani, who portrayed the role of a rickshwala in City Of Joy and Do Bigha Zameen respectively. The film also stars Kasturi Chakraborty and Sangita Sinha as female lead. Shot in Kolkata this film has been shot by Modhura Palit.

Apart from Ram Kamal’s Rickshawala, Iranian film Daughters of Winter by Behzad Khodaveisi bagged Best Director Award. The film is about women in Iran who have time and again silently dreaded violence, war, poverty and longing yet never seize to dream.

National Award winner Amaravaati by B R Giriraj won the Best Feature Film award, while Seema Biswas bagged Best Actress award for Abode (Idam) and Iranian actress Laeia Zanganeh bagged Best Actress for Women Who Run With Wolves.

Congratulations to the winners!!