Hindi films Sherni (2021), Ludo (2020) and Lootcase (2020), along with the Tamil film Soorarai Pottru (2020), the Malayalam film Kayattam (A'hr) (2021) and the Bengali film Tasher Ghawr (2020) will compete for Best Film at the 12th edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne in Australia.
Nasir (2020), Sthalpuran (2021), The Great Indian Kitchen (2020), Fire In The Mountains (2021), Laila Aur Satt Geet (2021), Pinki Elli? (2021), Seththumaan (2020) and God On The Balcony (2021) are among the features up for Best Indie Film.
Presented by the government of the state of Victoria, the annual festival will be held in a hybrid manner this year with both virtual and physical screenings. The award ceremony on 20 August will be held virtually. Over 100 films from Indian cinema are scheduled to be showcased.
This year, the Australian festival is adding three categories to incorporate web content with Best Series and Best Performances by Male and Female Actors. The nominations will include only those platforms available for Australian audiences. The nominations for film and web content cover a period from August 2020 to July 2021.
In the documentary category, features like Shut Up Sona, WOMB: Women Of My Billion and About Mumma are up for the main award.
The winners of Best Film, Best Indie Film and Best Documentary will also receive a state-of-the-art camera from Black Magic Design. Additionally, the Best Film winner will automatically be nominated in the Best Asian Film category for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) awards.
The short film Bittu (2021) by Karishma Dev Dube and WOMB will open the festival. The festival jury includes film editor Jill Bilcock, actor Vince Colosimo and director Geoffrey Wright. IFFM is being held from 12–21 August this year.
Here’s the full list of nominations:
Best Film
Kayattam (A’hr), Malayalam, dir: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan
Lootcase, Hindi, dir: Rajesh Krishnan
Ludo, Hindi, dir: Anurag Basu
Sherni, Hindi, dir: Amit Masurkar
Soorarai Pottru, Tamil, dir: Sudha Kongara
Tasher Ghawr, Bengali, dir: Sudipto Roy
Best Indie Film
Fire In The Mountains, Hindi, dir: Ajitpal Singh
God On The Balcony, Assamese, dir: Biswajeet Bora
Laila Aur Satt Geet, Gojri, Hindi, dir: Pushpendra Singh
Nasir, Tamil, dir: Arun Karthick
Pinki Elli?, Kannada, dir: Prithvi Konnanur
Seththumaan, Tamil, dir: Thamizh
Sthalpuran, Marathi, dir: Akshay Indikar
The Great Indian Kitchen, Malayalam, dir: Jeo Baby
Best Director
Ajitpal Singh, Fire In The Mountains, Hindi
Akshay Indikar, Sthalpuran, Marathi
Amit Masurkar, Sherni, Hindi
Anurag Basu, Ludo, Hindi
Arun Karthick, Nasir, Tamil
Biswajeet Bora, God On The Balcony, Assamese
Jeo Baby, The Great Indian Kitchen, Malayalam
Prithvi Konnanur, Pinki Elli?, Kannada
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, Kayattam (A’hr), Malayalam
Sudha Kongara, Soorarai Pottru, Tamil
Best Actor
Benjamin Daimary, Jonaki Porua, Assamese
Harish Khanna, God On The Balcony, Assamese
Jitin Puthanchery, Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam, Malayalam
Koumarane Valavane, Nasir, Tamil
Neel Deshmukh, Sthalpuran, Marathi
Pankaj Tripathi, Ludo, Hindi
Rajkummar Rao, Ludo, Hindi
Suriya, Soorarai Pottru, Tamil
Best Actress
Kani Kusruti, Biriyaani, Malayalam
Nimisha Sajayan, The Great Indian Kitchen, Malayalam
Rasika Dugal, Lootcase, Hindi
Rima Kallingal, Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam, Malayalam
Swastika Mukherjee, Tasher Ghawr, Bengali
Vidya Balan, Sherni, Hindi
Vinamrata Rai, Fire In The Mountains, Hindi
Best Documentary
A Rifle In A Bag, Gondi, Madiya, Hindi, dir: Christina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi and Arya Rothe
About Mumma, English, dir: Maanvi Chowdhury
Borderlands, Bengali, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Other, dir: Samarth Mahajan
Shup Up Sona, English, dir: Deepti Gupta
Watch Over Me, Hindi, Malayalam, dir: Farida Pacha
WOMB, English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, dir: Ajitesh Sharma
Best Series
Bandish Bandits, Hindi
Churails, Urdu, Hindi
Mirzapur (Season 2), Hindi
Mismatched, Hindi
The Family Man (Season 2), Hindi
Best Performance (Male) – Series
Ali Fazal, Mirzapur (Season 2)
Divyenndu Sharma, Mirzapur (Season 2)
Manoj Bajpayee, The Family Man (Season 2)
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Tandav
Pankaj Tripathi, Mirzapur (Season 2)
Saif Ali Khan, Tandav
Best Performance (Female) – Series
Neena Gupta, Masaba Masaba
Prajakta Koli, Mismatched
Rasika Dugal, Mirzapur (Season 2)
Samantha Akkineni, The Family Man (Season 2)
Shahana Goswami, Bombay Begums
Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Mirzapur (Season 2)