When Varun Sharma incepted the idea of making a short film on an Indian student who realises his “Australian Dream” he had no idea that his concept will be displayed at the prestigious Cannes film festival this year.
The 12-minute film titled Adjust was initially put together as an extract to pitch a feature length project that Sharma wished to make in the near future based on an Indian immigrant’s success story in Australia.
“Adjust is a coming-of-age comedy that follows the initial days of an Indian student in Australia. Recently there has been a lot of focus in local and international media on the issue of violence down under against Indian students. My aim with this short film was to highlight the positives and present the story in an entertaining way with a ‘feel good’ element to connect with the general audience instead of using a dark and abstract approach to portray the negatives,” Sharma said.
Adjust has already won many accolades. It received an Honorary Mention in Australian Bollywood Film Festival this year and was also screened at the Indian Film festival in New Zealand.
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Rishi Kapoor wins best actor at NY film fest
Mumbai: His act as a middle-class teacher in a slice of life movie Do Dooni Chaar won him critical acclaim and now the film has won Rishi Kapoor best actor award at the just concluded New York Indian Film Festival. “I am thankful and honoured to be selected from the among the usual festival luminaries per se,” said Rishi.
“A commercial actor is seldom recognised for his skills. My award is for the whole Do Dooni Chaar family.” Directed by Habib Faizal, Do Dooni Chaar also featured Rishi’s actress wife Neetu. The festival also saw the presence of Rituparno Ghosh and Aparna Sen.
Do Dooni Chaar producers Disney International have now asked for a sequel. “Yes, Disney International have asked Habib to make Do Dooni Chaar 2 as they too realised that the first film suffered mainly due to bad release. There’s a excitement here in New York to recreate the characters of Do Dooni Chaar in a different space.”
While Faizal returns to India, Rishi and Neetu left for Las Vegas for a vacation. —IANS