Once again, Pune shines at national film awards

PUNE: Puneites once again left an indelible mark on the national film awards. Marathi film Deool, directed by Umesh Kulkarni, picked up three awards including best picture, and best actor and best dialogues for Girish Kulkarni at the 59th edition of the awards announced in New Delhi on Wednesday. Vocalist Anand Bhate won best playback male singer for another Marathi film Balgandharva.The two Kulkarnis and Bhate are all from Pune.
Deool, produced by Abhijeet Gholap, focuses on rural life and the effect of globalisation on people in the villages. It shared the best picture award with Byari, produced by T H Althaf Hussain and directed by Suveeran. The award carries a Swarna Kamal and a cash award of Rs 2,50,000.
Girish Kulkarni’s two awards carry aRajat Kamal and Rs 50,000 each. Vocalist Bhate, a disciple of the late Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, won his first na-tional award for Balgandharva. A child prodigy, Bhate won accolades in his school days for his beautiful rendition of Marathi natyageet. He later trained under the kirana gharana doyen. Another Puneite Vikram Gaikwad won the best makeup award for Balgandharva as well as for The Dirty Picture.
Vishnupant Damle: The Unsung Hero of Talkies, an hour-long docu-drama on the founder of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company in Pune, won an award for best biographical/historical reconstruction. The movie is directed by Virendra Valsangkar.
Sujay Dahake’s directorial debut, Shala, was adjuged best Marathi film. The award comprises a Rajat Kamal and Rs 1 lakh.