September 23: Noted actor Subrat Dutta has bagged the BEST ACTOR AWARD at the 6th DIFF for his intense portrayal of the character of Josef in the film Josef – Born in the Grace. Uttrakhand’s Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj has handed over the trophy to Subrat Dutta during the Closing Ceremony. Subrat Dutta, National School of Drama Graduate, has acted in Hindi films like films like Talaash, Tango Charlie, Zameen, The Shaukeens, Rakhcharitra, Bhootnath Returns and Bengali films Chaturanga, Bibar and Jor. Subrat has been awarded with the Best Actor Award before at the Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival in Delhi for Bengali film Bibar and also in the Egypt Film Festival for the Hindi film Madholal Keep Walking.

Santanu Ganguly said, “The film festivals should more and more focus on good content and not only glamour. Artists like Mita Vashisht, Vinay Pathak, Akhilendra Mishra and Subrat Dutta should be the stars of film festivals, not the popular actors of Hindi films. We are glad that in a small but with honest intention, we are trying to pay our humble respects to the tremendous performers of the Indian film industries.”

The 6th DIFF honoured the veteran actor Victor Banerjee with the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD for his immense contribution towards Cinema. He has acted in films made by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Roman Polanski, James Ivory, Sir David Lean, Jerry London, Ronald Neame, and Indian masters like – Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal, Ram Gopal Varma, Bangladeshi filmmaker Montazur Rahman Akbar. He won the National film award for Best Supporting Actor for the film Ghare Baire. He has acted in Bengali, Hindi and Assamese films besides the English films of Hollywood. In 6th

DIFF, Victor Banerjee and Subrat Dutta acted film Josef – Born in the Grace shown as the Closing Film of the festival. Josef – Born in the Grace, directed by internationally acclaimed director Sushant Misra and produced by Ashok Mahapatra. Victor Banerjee said, “many film festivals and organising wanted to honour me with the Lifetime Achievement Award, but I refused them gently, but I am happily accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award in Dehradun because I made Mussoorie my home 20 years ago. The film is entirely based and completely shot in Uttrakhand, and the festival is Dehradun International Film Festival, so this time I have all the reason to accept the honour.” Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal presented the trophy to the veteran actor at the Closing Ceremony of the 6th DIFF.

Santanu Ganguly, Festival Curator and Artistic Director of DIFF, said, “honouring the persona like Victor Banerjee is like Ganga pujan with Ganga Jal, means honouring him is in a way being honoured by the blessings of the veteran actor.”

Noted actors Mita Vashisht, Vinay Pathak, Akhilendra Mishra, Vindu Dara Singh, Aisharya Rajnikant, veteran Hindi film producer and director K C Bokadia, former FTII Chairperson Gajendra Chauhan, Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Susant Misra, Producer Ashok Mahapatra were among the guests of the 6th edition of the Dehradun International Film Festival.

For more details, please contact: Santanu Ganguly, Artistic Director, 9818649854 / 8920481712