Suddha wins Best Film at Osians'

New Delhi: Presence of a galaxy of stars from the Bollywood firmament on Sunday marked the finale of the Osians' Cinefan Festival of Asian cinema even as a majority of awards were bagged by films from the stable of sensible or parallel cinema.

In what can be seen as a sign of the diverse worlds of commercial and art cinema coming together on one platform, a host of stars from the mainstream Bollywood honoured their counterparts in the parallel cinema at the closing ceremony of the Asian film festival, which concluded on Sunday night with the screening of the Iranian film Offside by Jafar Panahi.

Filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli won the Special Jury award for his film In the Shadow of the Dog while the Best Film Award was bagged by The Cleansing Rites (Suddha) by P N Ramchandra, the first film in Tulu language.

The Best Actor award was bagged by Subratta Dutta for his role in Calcutta Unabashed while the Best Actress award was won by Tannishta Chaterjee for her role in the same film.

While the glamorous Urmila Matondkar handed over the Best Actor award to Subratta Dutta, actress Nandita Das gave the award for best actress and Bollywood actor Juhi Chawla gave the award to filmmaker P N Ramchandra.

Phillipines film Bet Collector bagged three awards - FIPRESI jury Award for Best film, the Best Actress and Best Film Award in the Asian competition section.

The Turkish film Two Girls by Kutlug Ataman won the Special Jury Prize in the Asian competition section.

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Two films, Homeland by Tareque and Catherine Masud from Bangladesh and Love's Lone Flower by Tsao Jui Yuan from Taiwan, won a special mention in the Asian competition section. The NETPAC jury award went to Midnight My Love from Thailand.

The closing ceremony witnessed a galaxy of stars from the Bollywood firmament including Urmila Matondkar, Juhi Chawla, yesteryear's Bollywood heartthrob Shashi Kapoor, Simi Garewal, actress Nandita Das and Raima Sen.

Also present at the closing ceremony were actress Meeta Vashisht, actor Rajit Kapoor, renowned filmmakers Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Bobby Bedi, Anwar Jamal and Pan Nalin and other personalities from the world of international cinema.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi, who was the Chief Guest, said the Asian film festival made an immense contribution to bringing together the best of Asian cinema on one platform.

''Also, the quality of the Indian films selected for the screening at the festival reflects the vibrancy of the Indian film industry,'' he added.

The ten-day event, which witnessed screening of over 100 films from 40 countries, showcased to the cinema lovers the best of Asian and Arab cinema.

Organised by Nevile Tuli's Osians Connoisseurs of Arts, the Asian film festival this year screened 120 films from 40 countries in Asia.

Unlike earlier years, when the entry to the film festival was free for the public, this year, the general public had to pay Rs 20 per ticket to watch the films on show at the festival.