68th National Awards: Marathi movies Sumi and Me Vasantrao win in two classes

City-based classical singer Rahul Deshpande was watching the live-streaming of the bulletins concerning the National Film Awards along with his household on Friday. For him, “it was like the last over in an India-Pakistan match” when his title was introduced because the Best Male Playback singer for Me Vasantrao, a biopic on his grandfather, the late classical vocalist Vasantrao Deshpande.

At the 68th National Film Awards introduced on Friday, Me Vasantrao additionally received the National Award for Best Audiography (Sound Designer) for Anmol Bhave.

“I am glad to receive the National Award…The credit goes to the director, Nipun Dharmadhikari, the producers and the entire sound department. I enjoyed composing songs for this film as well as acting, and all of us had a great time. We had to face many obstacles while shooting but each and every second of that journey was special and satisfying. I am happy to be recognised for the effort. I accept the award humbly and thank the jury and the entire team,” added Deshpande.

Marathi cinema received huge on the National Awards as Amol Gole’s movie Sumi additionally acquired two awards — Best Children’s Film in addition to the Best Child Artiste award for its lead actors Akanksha Pingle and Divyesh Indulkar.

“I would like to give credit to both the child actors as they have played the biggest role in achieving the award. I would also like to acknowledge director Amol Gupte, as it is the experience I have had with him with films like Taare Zameen Par, and Stanley ka Dabba… he is my guru and I owe it all to him. The film is a dedication to each and everyone who struggled for their education and completed it successfully,” mentioned Gole.

“I was ecstatic when my father rushed in to tell me the news. Amol sir was very confident that I will get the award as he appreciated my work in his film but I was still unsure… My parents had taken quite some effort to have me in this field…the shoot was a very enriching experience and I got to learn a lot under Gole sir,” mentioned 17-year-old Akanksha Pingle, now a junior school scholar of DY Patil College.

“I do not have words to express how elated I am at her achievement. People have been visiting us and conveying their regards. All due credit goes to Gole sir for her achievement…it is the national award, nothing is bigger than that,” added her father, Laxman Pingle.

“I have worked in short films and advertisements before but this was my first feature film. I am happy and celebrations are already underway…I give Gole sir the due credit for his guidance throughout the film and I thoroughly enjoyed working in the film with my co-star Akansha,” mentioned 15-year-old Indulkar, a resident of Dadar, Mumbai.

In Mumbai, the place he has been residing for greater than a decade, actor Siddharth Menon was having a daily day when he heard that he had received the Special Mention for the Marathi movie June. The actor, who was born in Pune and grew up right here, mentioned, “I was preparing for something else and this announcement happened… and it became crazy. It is unexpected and the emotions are yet to be registered. This film is very close to my heart and I have had the good fortune of working in it since it is a work that crosses several boundaries and is difficult to box into a single definition. We thought this film was very important; it’s tagline was ‘Healing is Beautiful’.”

Tak-Tak by Vishal Kudale, an FTII alumnus, has received its lone star, Anish Gosavi, the Best Child Artist in Feature Films. The movie is a couple of schoolboy who wakes up in his classroom solely to search out that the varsity has a three-day vacation, forcing him to study to outlive and are available to phrases with sure truths.