Abhishek Shah’s National award-winning Gujarati feature film Hellaro (2019) has won the Grand Prix 2019 awarded by FIPRESCI-India, the India chapter of the International Film Critics' Organization, known by its French acronym.
Twenty films were nominated in the final round for the annual award, including Anubhav Sinha's Article 15, Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikkattu, Thiagarajan Kumararaja's Super Deluxe, Madhu C Narayanan's Kumbalangi Nights and Bhaskar Hazarika's Aamis.
Speaking about the win, Shah said, “I am a big fan of Jallikkattu, Kumbalangi Nights and Super Deluxe, so it’s a great honour winning an award when your competitors are such great films. There were 20 films that were 2019 productions. Hellaro has brought us infinite happiness and so many awards and rewards and I am very glad that we are receiving such a prestigious award.”
Hellaro is Shah's debut feature. The filmmaker, who lives in Ahmedabad, is currently working on the script for his next film and has found the time to connect with himself during the countrywide lockdown to try to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.