Bengali filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly's 'Nagarkirtan' wins big at SAARC film fest

Kolkata, July 12: Director Kaushik Ganguly's Bengali outing 'Nagarkirtan', a love story of a transwoman and a flautist, has won big at this year's SAARC film festival, bagging four awards, including 'Best Feature Film'.

The critically acclaimed movie, starring Riddhi Sen and Ritwik Chakraborty, had swept as many National Awards last year. At the ninth edition of the SAARC fest in Colombo, 'Nagarkirtan' was honoured with 'Best Feature Film', 'Best Director', 'Best Actor' and 'Best Original Score' awards.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Sen, who won the Best Actor award at the fest, said, "Another BIG win for Nagarkirtan. Nagarkirtan wins four awards at the immensely prestigious SAARC (South Asian film festival of The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. "Humbled, thank you SAARC and above all to my director Kaushik Ganguly. No amount of 'Thank You' is enough for you," he said, tagging the director.

Earlier, 'Nagarkirtan' got its biggest fillip with young actor Riddhi Sen winning the coveted Best Actor at the 65th National Award for his turn in the transgender love story in the movie.

Two other Indian films have won awards at the fest. 'Na Bole Wo Haram', a 20-minute film by debutant director Nitish Patankar, bagged the 'Best Short Film' award, while 'Walking With the Wind' by Praveen Morchhale received the Special Jury award for direction and story.