Third Eye Asian Film Festival accepts my proposal, institutes best debut director award

Third Eye Asian Film Festival accepts my proposal, institutes best debut director award

In a rare occurrence, the organisers of the Third Eye Asian Film Festival (TEAFF), currently being held in Mumbai and Thane, accepted the proposal I put forth at their press conference on 22nd December, at the iconic Rajkamal Kalamandir complex, that, since there were several directors whose debut-making films were to be screened at the TEAFF, they should consider instituting an award for the Best Debut Director. Trustee Kiran Shantaram and Festival Director Santosh Pathare were both taken-up with the idea I mooted, and announced that they would take my proposal seriously. I assumed, at best, they would include it in the 23rd edition of the festival, which would be held next year, in 2027. Little did I expect that Shantaram would announce the inclusion of this award from the current festival itself. The announcement was made at the Opening Ceremony, held at the P. L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy’s sprawling courtyard, yesterday. I was not given any credit for my suggestion, but never mind, the fact that it was accepted is reward enough.

As usual, TEAFF’s Opening Ceremony was held after three films had already been screened, at the mini-theatre of the same complex. in open-air, with natural air-conditioning keeping the audience optimally cool, on a Mumbai winter evening. A simple yet impressive stage was set-up, sofas arranged for the VIPs (they have given me a VIP pass, another rarity) and plenty of chairs for the invitees. Kiran Shantaram asked Kiran Kulkarni whether this could be the permanent venue for the Opening ceremony of all future TEAFFs, and Kiran was in agreement.

On stage, besides Kiran Shantaram, were the doyenne of Indian entertainment media, Sai Paranjpye, actress Sonali Kulkarni, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC)’s Managing Director and former Director of the National Film Archive (now merged with NFDC), Prakash Magdum, Kiran’s son Chaitanya. Kiran Shantaram was the Secretary of the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI, from its foundation, with Hrishikesh Mukherjee as its Chairman and Satish Nandgaonkar as its Festival Director. His grandson, Rahul, is making a documentary on late V. Shantaram, the master craftsman, to be released in November 2026, on Shantaram’s 125th birth anniversary.

Chaitanya Shantaram (Trustee), Premendra Mazumder (Program Director). Kiran V. Shantaram ( Chairman), Prakash Magdum (MD, NFDC), Padma Bhushan Sai Parajpye (Filmmaker), Dr. Kiran Kulkarni (Secretary, Cultural Affairs Department, Governement of Maharashtra, Dr. Santosh Pathare (Festival Director), Sonali Kulkarni (Actress), Shrikant Bojewar (Trustee), Sandeep Manjrekar (Managing Director)

Scheduled to start at 5 pm, it kept the clock ticking for almost 90 minutesbefore things began to happen. A professional compère (another rarity), whose name I got as Jeevat Davre, was on the job, and managed a passable attempt at running the show. Kiran and famous actress, multi-lingual actress Sonali (a Trustee of the Asian Film Foundation) had their eyes

Sonali Kulkarni

on the clock, and made their addresses really brief; Santosh, an affableperson, had to speak longer, being the Director of the festival, having so much to say, and being the man who has stepped into the size 12 shoes of the indomitable Satish Nandgaonkar, and done a more than reasonable job of it;

Dr. Santosh Pathare

Sai, aged a sprightly 90, spoke for a good 15 minutes, clearly and succinctly, while Premendra Mazumdar (Programme Director, who had flown in from Kolkata), Shrikant Bojewar (another Trustee) and Chaitanya were not asked to speak at all. Dr. Kiran Kulkarni (Secretary, Cultural Affairs Department, Government of Maharashtra) revealed that he also held a post in the Maharashtra government that gave him the responsibility to promote Marathi (the state language), and therefore he would, and did, switch to his native tongue, after a few sentences in English.

Taking a cue from him, Sandeep Manjrekar, who has risen from a volunteer at the festival two decades ago, to become its Managing Director, began in English, which he was not very comfortable with, and soon switched to Marathi. His speech being a vote of thanks, he had a lot of names to read out, although they had already been thanked by previous speakers. Even then, he missed out on two names, and was immediately prompted to add them to the list of his team, organisers, workers, benefactors and sponsors. A restaurant was thanked for providing food, though nobody was served anything during or after the Ceremony. (I shall avoid mentioning the cup of tea that was smuggled to me by someone who was in a position to organise it discreetly).

Uma Da Cunha, the Satyajit Ray awardee, a woman who has worn many hats, right from writing Ray’s first complete biography, to heading film festivals, to an eminent journalist and author, to an organiser of film festivals, to one who brought to India many crossover films from overseas at IFFI, to a casting Director, was missed. She could not make it, being indisposed. There was no mention of the award instituted in memory of the late Sudhir Nandgaonkar, who was the Director of this festival from its inception till a couple of years ago, when he passed away. His contribution, however, was duly acknowledged. This year's special award for film-writing was to be conferred upon film scholar and festival curator, Meenakshi Shedde, who was absent.

Tiny and fragile, Padma Bhushan awardee, Sai Paranjpye held sway with anecdotes and autobiographical details that few would have known about. At TEAFF, she was bestowed with the Asian Film Culture Award. Daughter of Youra Sleptzoff, a Russian, and Shakuntala Paranjpye, from Pune, she came to India from Switzerland, as a one-year-old, after her parents divorced, and made India her home. Here she studied at the National School of Drama under its firebrand and disciplinarian Director, Ebrahim Alkazi, a Saudi Arabian by birth, formed a children’s theatre group, did radio plays, taught diction and acting at the Film and Television Institute of India, worked with Doordarshan New Delhi as Producer, made teleplays, wrote and directed stage plays in Marathi, and made memorable films, beginning with Sparsh (1980), which, after several rejections, was produced by Basu Bhattacharya, himself a renowned director. There was a lot of talk about differences between the two, but the film became a milestone. Chashm-e-Bud-door (1981) followed and was wowed. And then Katha (1983) made it a hat-trick, in three years. Her later work includes Angootha Chhaap (1988) and Disha (1990). We find Suee (2009) as her last foray into film-making. It was also mentioned that she had translated Naseeruddin Shah (a student of hers at FTII)’s autobiography) from English to Marathi. Some sources give her year of birth as 1938, while she said, at TEAFF, that she was 90, which would suggest she was born in 1937, and will be 90 this March. Her Guru, Alkazi, lived to be 95.

Formal proceedings ended around 7.40 pm. The fourth and last screening was scheduled for 7 pm, but hunger pangs were getting the better of me. Should I get a bite somewhere, or head for the 3rd floor auditorium to catch Pangku, the opening film? I took the risk, and got myself to something to eat, rushing straight for the mini-theatre as soon as I had had my last bite. It was already about 8.15 pm. As it turned out, the screening of Pangku had just started when I reached, and I missed only a couple of minutes. Of the four films I saw yesterday, this was the best, and it is always a pleasure when you leave the auditorium at the end of a day, having seen the most satisfying film of the day’s schedule. But the day’s long proceedings took their toll. Having left home at 8.45 am, I returned at 10.30 pm, with dinner taken at 11. Consequently, I was knocked out today, and missed all the Saturday screenings. I hope to make good my loss by seeing all five films tomorrow.