Bollywood’s Shashi Kapoor, despite his frail health, attended the closing ceremony of the sixth Jagran Film Festival in Mumbai to receive a Lifetime Achievement honour. Industry members lauded his contribution to Indian cinema.
The legendary actor, who was earlier this year decorated with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement honour by celebrated director Shyam Benegal in Mumbai on Sunday night.
Kapoor, 77, is best known for his performances in films such as Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Trishul, Kabhi Kabhie, Vijeta and Kalyug. He has been wheelchair bound for some years.
Director Sudhir Mishra feels that no honour can match up to Kapoor’s achievements, and it is because of his relentless work in offbeat cinema that the current Indian filmmakers “still hold the wish to make something different”.
“He is the most deserving for this award. Any award or recognition is less than his achievements,” said Mishra, whose projects include Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Inkaar.
Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui said: “He [Kapoor] did a lot of commercial films, but his preferred films were offbeat ones, which he produced and encouraged. His contribution is enormous in Indian cinema”.
Other tinsel town stars including Madhur Bhandarkar, Udit Narayan, Kunal Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, Amy Jackson, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sanjay Mishra, Neeraj Ghaywan and Swara Bhaskar also attended the event.
Actress Bhumi Pednekar got the Best Actress award for her debut film Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bengali actor Dulal Sarkar and filmmaker Shoojit Sircar were honoured for bringing in a wave of change in the Indian film industry with their skills.
Dulal clinched the Best Actor (Male) award for an outstanding performance in Bengali film Chotoder Chobi. And Shoojit Sircar took home Best Director award for the second consecutive year for his simple yet enduring Piku, read a statement.
Veteran make-up artist Pandhari Juker was also ennobled with an Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema title.
After garnering plaudits internationally, Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan was honoured as the Best Debut Director.
Meanwhile, Jyoti Nooran won the Best Singer Female Award for her melodious renditions in Tanu Weds Manu Returns and Sukhwinder Singh’s musical notes in Haider bagged him the Best Singer Male Award.
The winning spree for Haider continued with Tabu clinching the Best Female Supporting Actor title. And Sanjay Mishra won the Best Male Supporting Actor award for Masaan.
Atul Kulkarni’s Marathi film Rajwade And Sons, which focuses on the bond shared within a family, brought the curtains down on the sixth edition of the film fest.
The 2015 edition of Jagran Film Festival traversed from Delhi to Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Dehradun, Hisar, Ludhiana, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Raipur, Indore, and Bhopal before culminating in Mumbai.
