Sheer Qorma, Khisa, Barah by Barah win big at the DFW South Asian Film Festival

The winners of the recently concluded seventh edition of the DFW South Asian Film Festival (SAFF) have been announced. Rani Rani Rani, directed by Rajaram Rajendran, won the Best Feature award while Gaurav Madan picked up the Best Director trophy for Barah by Barah. The latter film, which is set in Varanasi, examines the fortunes of the last remaining death photographer at the burning banks of Manikarnika, who, like the town itself, must decide the course of its future. The festival shared the news about the winners on Instagram on Wednesday.

Kirnay Bhatt’s Keep Punching won the award for Best Long Form Short. The film tells of a boxer from a small mountain community who must first fight the battle for her freedom before pursuing her lifelong dream of representing the country.

Raj Pritam More’s Marathi language short Khisa won the Best Short Film award. A story on the loss of innocence in the times we live in, the film has been screened at several film festivals and won many accolades.

Sophia Ali won the Best Actress award for the English language movie India Sweets and Spices, directed by Geeta Malik; while Sachin Bhatt won the Best Actor award for Saving Chintu. Directed by Tushar Tyagi, the short film examines an American-Indian gay couple as they travel to India to adopt a child living with HIV in an orphanage and try to cope with the cultural challenges.

The Best of Fests award was presented to the short film Sheer Qorma directed by Faraz Arif Ansari. Actress Divya Dutta also won the Best of Fests Best Actress award for her role in the film. 

The DFW SAFF was held from 15 to 17 October 2021 in a physical format.