India’s Oscar entry Newton secured two wins at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane, with Rajkummar Rao winning the best actor and Mayank Tewari and Amit V. Masurkar claiming the best screenplay honour. Manipuri movie Lady of the Lake won a special mention.
Ecstatic over the win, Rao tweeted: “Won the best actor award at the most prestigious APSA 2017. Thank you Maa. Thank you team Newton. Don’t stop chasing your dreams because they really do come true.”
He also posted a photograph in which the actor is seen kissing the trophy.
“Let’s keep doing this beautiful work, let’s keep making these wonderful stories. Here’s to cinema,” Rao said after receiving the award, also thanking his late mother for blessing Newton.
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta and actor Manoj Bajpayee congratulated the movie’s team.
“Congratulations my darling Rajkummar Rao and amazing talents Mayank Tewari, Amit Masurkar. A win at the APSA is a huge achievement and should make India super proud,” stated Hansal Mehta on his social media account.
Newton is India’s official entry for the foreign language film category at the Academy Awards 2018. Produced by Drishyam Films and directed by Masurkar, the movie revolves around a young government clerk who is sent on election duty to a Maoist-controlled town and how the ideological struggle puts him in an awkward situation.
Meanwhile, Lady of the Lake, which is directed by Haobam Paban Kumar was awarded a special mention for the Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of Unesco.
Indian director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was nominated in the achievement in directing category for his Malayalam movie S Durga, which is in the news for being excluded from the Indian Panorama section of the ongoing 48th International Film Festival in Goa.
Warwick Thornton’s Australian movie Sweet Country was named best film while Russia’s Andrey Zvyagintsev was named best director for Loveless.
