Suriya's Soorarai Pottru, Samantha Akkineni, Pankaj Tripathi, Vidya Balan Win Top Honours At Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2021

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Melbourne, August 20, 2021: The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) announced its winners for its 12th edition, which was held virtually on August 20 (Friday). This year's festival had a line-up of feature and short films from across India, representing the theme of diversity through cinema.

Pankaj Tripathi, who has been winning accolades for his versatility in films and web shows, was honored with the Diversity in Cinema Award presented by LaTrobe University. On winning the award, Pankaj Tripathi said, "This award is special for me, I'm humbled and it's really inspiring for me, my craft. The man who is here to give me this award, he is the one who discovered my talent. So thanks to Anurag Kashyap sir. He is the one who rediscovered my talent. I’m grateful to all my directors, writers for having me part of their projects".



Tamil film Soorarai Pottru walked away with the Best Feature Film and Suriya won the Best Actor award for the same. Soorarai Pattru was released last year on Amazon Prime Video and has been winning accolades around the world since. It is also the highest-rated Indian movie on IMDb and the third-highest worldwide with a rating of 9.1.

Suriya, on his part, thanked his fans and Soorarai Pottru director Sudha Kongara, saying, "I'm sure all the nominees have given their best. This film is very special, and this is the first award I'm getting for this film. Thanks to all the fans who have given us so much love. In my career, I felt bored with what I was doing after having worked for 20 years. So thanks to my director Sudha — this film was her 10 years dream — she worked four years on writing or his film. The character of Maara will not be anything without her. I couldn't ask for more".

Among the other top honours, Samantha Akkineni and Manoj Bajpayee won the best actress and best actor award for a web series. The duo headlined Prime Video's "The Family Man 2", which marked Samantha's digital as well as Hindi debut. Vidya Balan also won the best actress award for her movie Sherni, which also premiered on Amazon Prime Video.



Indian filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap, Shoojit Sircar, Thiagarajan Kumararaja, Sriram Raghavan were amongst the presenters. Also present were jury members including Richa Chadha, Guneet Monga, Onir, Australian filmmaker Geoffrey Wright and Oscar-nominated editor Jill Bilcock.

Check out the full list of winners at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2021 -

Diversity in Cinema Award - Pankaj Tripathi



Best Feature Film - Soorarai Pottru

Best Performance Male (Feature) - Suriya Sivakumar (Soorarai Pottru)

Best Performance Female (Feature) - Vidya Balan (Sherni) & Honourable mention to Nimisha Sajayan (The Great Indian Kitchen)

Best Director - Anurag Basu (Ludo) & Honorary Mention Prithvi Konanur (Pinki Elli?)

Best Series - Mirzapur Season 2

Best Actor in a Series - Manoj Bajpayee (The Family Man 2)

Best Actress in a Series - Samantha Akkineni (The Family Man 2)

Equality in Cinema (Short Film) - Sheer Qorma

Equality in Cinema Award (Feature Film) - The Great Indian Kitchen

Best Indie Film - Fire in the Mountains

Best Documentary Film – Shut Up Sona

Disruptor Award - Sanal Kumar Sasidharan

Stay tuned...