Succulent, Aakhiri Buraansh and Cheepatakadumpa win big at DIFF 2021

Amrita Bagchi's Succulent bagged the Audience Award for Best First Film at the 10th edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival while the Film Critics Guild DIFF Gender Sensitivity Award was presented jointly to Aakhiri Buraansh directed by Yashasvi Juyal and Cheepatakadumpa directed by Devashish Makhija.

Succulent follows obsessive plant lover ‘M’, who is hired by a unique agency that replaces missing family members. As she juggles her own personal attachments with the emotional needs of her clients, the film delves into whether human affection can possibly be commodified.

Succulent review: A profound look at human affection in a dystopian future

The Film Critics Guild DIFF Gender Sensitivity Award is given to filmmakers who present creative and timely portrayals of issues related to sex and gender. 

The jury at Film Critic's Guild said in a statement that the two films are polar apart in craft, narrative style, gaze and concern. The statement read, "Aakhiri Buraansh is visually sparse. Its narrative style, like the landscape it is set in, is dry, harsh and bleak. Cheepatakadumpa, on the other hand, is a raunchy romp with more psychedelic bits and baubles than we can count. Cheepatakadumpa finds a happy ending, while Aakhiri Buraansh can't even feign a smile.

"Despite these differences, at the centre of both the films is women's desire -- their fight and flight to get what they want. In Aakhiri Buraansh it is women's desire to study, earn, be independent; in Cheepatakadumpa it is women's desire for pleasure. FCG-DIFF commends both the films and their filmmakers."

The festival was extended and concluded on 14 November 2021.