‘God on the Balcony’ gets 3 nominations at 12th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne

| Published on: Aug 6, 2021

Assamese film ‘God On The Balcony’ at Shanghai International Film Festival

Skilled filmmaker Biswajeet Bora’s Assamese film ‘God on the Balcony’ has bagged top three nominations at 12th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2021, one of the biggest international Indian film festivals outside of the country.

IFFM 2021 announced its nominations for its annual awards ceremony recently. ‘God on the Balcony’ was nominated for Best Indie film, Best Director (Biswajeet Bora) and Best Actor (Harish Khanna).

The festival, which is presented by the Victorian government, is an annual festival that takes place in Melbourne, Australia, and showcases the best of Indian films and the subcontinent that year.

In its 12th edition to be held this month, the IFFM 2021 has gone virtual as well as physical due to the global pandemic. With over 100 films whose screening will be held during the event, this will be a celebration of diversity and the best of Indian cinema in all its forms.

It is a proud moment is that ‘God on the Balcony’, starring Harish Khanna and directed by Biswajeet Bora and produced by Nurul Sultan, will compete with some extraordinary films of 2021 such as ‘Ludo’ directed by Anurag Basu, the Vidya Balan-starrer ‘Sherni’ directed by Amit Masukar, ‘Soorarai Pottru’ (Tamil) starred and produced by Suriya and directed by Sudha Kongara.

Among this year’s best documentary feature some of the most compelling stories including ‘Shut Up Sona’, ‘W.O.M.B’, ‘About Mumma’ among others.

Winners of Best Film, Best Indie Film and Best Documentary each win state-of-the-art camera from Black Magic Design apart from the award. Another key highlight is that the Best Film winner automatically gets a nomination nod under the Best Asian Film category at the annual prestigious AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards).

‘God on the Balcony’ will have its Australian premiere on August 21 at HOYTS Docklands theatre at Melbourne and ‘The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2021’ award ceremony will take place virtually on August 21.

The nominations for 2021 are as listed below:

BEST FILM

Kayattam (A’Hr) – Malayalam – Sanal Kumar Sasidharan
Lootcase – Hindi – Rajesh Krishnan
Ludo – Hindi – Anurag Basu
Sherni – Hindi- Amit Masurkar
Soorarai Pottru – Tamil – Sudha Kongara
Tasher Ghawr – Bengali – Sudipto Roy

BEST INDIE FILM

Fire in the Mountains – Hindi – Ajitpal Singh
God on the Balcony – Assamese – Biswajeet Bora
Laila aur Satt Geet – Gojri, Hindi – Pushpendra Singh
Nasir – Tamil – Arun Karthick
Pinki Elli? – Kannada – Prithvi Konnanur
Seththumaan – Tamil – Thamizh
Sthalpuran – Marathi – Akshay Indikar
The Great Indian Kitchen – Malayalam – Jeo Baby

BEST DIRECTOR

Ajitpal Singh – Fire in the Mountains – Hindi
Akshay Indikar – Sthalpuran – Marathi
Amit Masurkar – Sherni – Hindi
Anurag Basu – Ludo – Hindi
Arun Karthick – Nasir – Tamil
Biswajeet Bora – God on the Balcony – Assamese
Jeo Baby – The Great Indian Kitchen – Malayalam
Pithvi Konnanur – Pinki Elli? – Kannada
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan – Kayattam (A’hr) – Malayalam
Sudha Kongara – Soorarai Pottru – Tamil

BEST ACTOR

Benjamin Daimary – Jonaki Porua -Assamese
Harish Khanna – God on the Balcony – Assamese
Jitin Puthanchery – Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam – Malayalam
Koumarane Valavane – Nasir – Tamil
Neel Deshmukh – Sthalpuran – Marathi
Pankaj Tripathi – Ludo – Hindi
Rajkummar Rao – Ludo – Hindi
Suriya – Soorarai Pottru – Tamil

BEST ACTRESS

Kani Kusruti – Biriyaani – Malayalam
Nimisha Sajayan – The Great Indian Kitchen – Malayalam
Rasika Dugal – Lootcase – Hindi
Rima Kallingal – Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam – Malayalam
Swatika Mukjherjee – Tasher Ghawr – Bengali
Vidya Balan – Sherni – Hindi
Vinamrata Rai – Fire in the Mountains – Hindi

BEST DOCUMENTARY

A Rifle in a Bag – Gondi, Madiya, Hindu – Christina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi and Arya Rothe
About Mumma – English – Maanvi Chowdhury
Borderlands – Bengali, Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Other – Samarth Mahajan
Shup Up Sona – English – Deepti Gupta
Watch over Me – Hindi, Malayalam – Farida Pacha
WOMB – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu – Ajitesh Sharma