Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Hindustan Times (Lucknow) - Live
FILM THAT TALKS ABOUT WOMEN POWER
To celebrate womanhood, a series of events, including a film screening, a felicitation ceremony, and a get-together, were recently held in the city.
The film screened was Mehrunisa, directed by Austrian filmmaker of Indian origin, Sandeep Kumar.
“Mehrunisa is the first Austrian feature film to be completely shot in India, in the local language, with late actor Farrukh Jaffar playing the titular role. It was chosen as the Mid Fest Film at the 51st International Film Festival of India in Goa (IFFI Goa) where it had its World Premiere. It received a standing ovation at the premiere.
“This year, it’s the homecoming of the film. The year’s first screening was held in the Austrian Embassy in Delhi whereas the second screening happened In Lucknow as the entire cast and crew are from Lucknow,” Kumar said.
Talking about the film winning several awards, he said, “We have travelled worldwide with the film, through Europe, US, IFFI Goa, and have received quite a good response for the film. It has also received multiple awards across the globe including Best Film and Best Actress (Farrukh Jaffar) at the Boston Film Festival.”
Kumar is currently working on the post-production of Mehrunisa and developing the Austrian-Indian drama, Raj.
Jaffar, who started her career over four decades ago with Muzaffar Ali’s Umrao Jaan (1981) and played various supporting character roles, including Amma in Aamir Khan’s Peepli Live (2010). The veteran actor passed away in October 2021 at the age of 88.
Her last major supporting role was with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Ritesh Batra’s film Photograph (2019).
The film also features actors Ankita Dubey, Tulika Banerjee, Husain Saddam along with others.
The special screening was hosted by Lucknow Bioscope, SK Films, Sanchit Smriti Trust and La Martiniere Girls’ College.
The special guest at the event was Ashutosh Kumar (IG Police), theatre personalityactor Anil Rastogi, Meera and Muzaffar Ali, Sadaf Jaffar along with the La Martiniere Girls’ College staff.
Following the screening, a felicitation ceremony to honour four women who have excelled in the field of entertainment was held. These were actor Gunjan Jain, theatre artiste Ananya Pandey, film makers Aisha Khatoon and Apurva Shah.