Indian Film Festival of Melbourne: Gangubai Kathiwadi, Badhaai Do, Jai Bhim, The Rapist, Minnal Murali top nominations

Hindi films Gangubai Kathiawadi, Badhaai Do, Malayalam superhero Minnal Murali and recent National award-winner Jai Bhim have all been nominated for awards at the upcoming Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), which will be held later this month.

The award ceremony will take place at the iconic Palais Theatre in Melbourne on 14 August. The films and web-series nominated were released between August 2021 to April 2022.

Besides the mainstream titles, several independent features such as the Kannada film Pedro, Bengali film Once Upon A Time in Calcutta and Fairy Folk have also been singled out. In the documentary category, the titles Urf, Ayena, Ladies Only have been selected. The winners of Best Film, Best Indie Film and Best Documentary will each be awarded state-of-the-art cameras from Black Magic Design in addition to the trophy.

Moreover, the Best Film winner automatically gets a nomination nod under the Best Asian Film category at the annual prestigious Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA).

This year’s festival jury includes award-winning film editor Jill Bilcock, Australian actor Vince Colosimo and award-winning filmmakers Geoffrey Wright and Nadia Tass. Indian artistes such as Samantha and Abhishek Bachchan are expected to attend the festival and former cricketer Kapil Dev is also a special guest of honour.

The 13th edition is being held both physically and virtually. The festival begins from 12 to 20 August in person and will also have special virtual programming from 13 to 30 August for Australian audiences. Over 100 films across 23 languages are being screened at this year’s edition.

Here is the complete list of nominations:

Best Film

83 (Hindi)
Badhaai Do (Hindi)
Gangubai Kathiawadi (Hindi)
Jai Bhim (Tamil)
Minnal Murali (Malayalam)
Paka (River of Blood) (Malayalam)
Sardar Udham (Hindi)
The Rapist (English, Hindi)

Best Indie Film

Boomba Ride (Mishing)
Dug Dug (Hindi)
Jaggi (Punjabi)
Once Upon A Time In Calcutta (Bengali)
Pedro (Kannada)
Shankar’s Fairies (Hindi)
Shoebox (Hindi)
Fairy Folk (Hindi, English)

Best Actor (Male)

Gopal Hegde, Pedro (Kannada)
Rajkummar Rao, Badhaai Do (Hindi)
Ramnish Chaudhary, Jaggi (Punjabi)
Ranveer Singh, 83 (Hindi)  
Suriya, Jai Bhim (Tamil)
Tovino Thomas, Minnal Murali (Malayalam)
Vicky Kaushal, Sardar Udham (Hindi)
Abhishek Bachchan, Dasvi (Hindi)

Best Actor (Female)

Alia Bhatt, Gangubai Kathiawadi (Hindi)
Bhumi Pednekar, Badhaai Do (Hindi)
Deepika Padukone, Gehraiyaan (Hindi)
Konkona Sen Sharma, The Rapist (English, Hindi)
Lijomol Jose, Jai Bhim (Tamil)
Shefali Shah, Jalsa (Hindi)
Sreelekha Mitra, Once Upon A Time In Calcutta (Bengali)
Vidya Balan, Jalsa (Hindi)

Best Director

Anmol Sidhu, Jaggi (Punjabi)
Aparna Sen, The Rapist (English, Hindi)
Kabir Khan, 83 (Hindi)
Pan Nalin, Chhello Show (Last Film Show) (Gujarati)
Sanjay Leela Bhansali Gangubai Kathiawadi (Hindi)
Shoojit Sircar, Sardar Udham (Hindi)
Suresh Triveni, Jalsa (Hindi)
TJ Gnanavel, Jai Bhim (Tamil)

Best Documentary

A Night of Knowing Nothing
Ayena (Mirror)
Kicking Balls
Ladies Only
Urf (AKA)

Best Film From Subcontinent

Joyland (Pakistan)
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)
No Land’s Man (Bangladesh)
Rehana Maryam Noor (Bangladesh)
The Newspaper (Sri Lanka)

Best Actor in a Series

Mohit Raina, Mumbai Diaries 26/11
Parambrata Chatterjee, Aranyak
Varun Mitra, Guilty Minds
Tahir Raj Bhasin, Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein
Dhruv Sehgal, Little Things (Season 4)

Best Actress in a Series

Konkona Sensharma, Mumbai Diaries 26/11
Sakshi Tanwar, Mai
Madhuri Dixit, The Fame Game
Mithila Palkar, Little Things (Season 4)
Raveena Tandon, Aranyak
Shriya Pilgaonkar, Guilty Minds

Best Series

Aranyak
Mumbai Diaries 26/11
The Fame Game
Mai
Little Things (Season 4)
Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein