Imtiaz Ali's Amar Singh Chamkila was named 'The Breakout Film of the Year' at the 15th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) and the director hopes the movie continues its winning spree at other awards, including the National Awards which bestowed Gulmohar, a direct-to-digital release, with three honours.
Amar Singh Chamkila, a biopic on the slain Punjabi singer who was known as the 'Elvis Presley of Punjab', was released directly on Netflix on April 12, 2024. It marked the filmmaker's feature film debut on a streamer.
At the 15th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) awards gala, held on Friday, the movie was announced as 'The Breakout Film of the Year'.
"There was confusion about whether films that are released direct-to-digital will be allowed to participate in National Awards but I think there's a verdict on that now which is in favour of direct-to-digital films. I'm hoping the National Awards will look kindly on Amar Singh Chamkila," Ali told PTI in an interview from Melbourne.
Gulmohar, a film about a family getting ready to say goodbye to their ancestral home, won three National Awards for the year for 2022 for best Hindi film, best dialogue writing for director Rahul V Chittella and special mention for actor Manoj Bajpayee. It released on Disney Hotstar in 2023.
Ali described "Amar Singh Chamkila", fronted by Diljit Dosanjh, a people's film.
"What I personally liked about the film is that it is made out of metros and mini-metros, and it goes into the heartland of India, where most of the country lives. I'm hopeful that the population of the country will appreciate that," he said when asked if the movie would go on to win a National Award next year.
Receiving 'The Breakout Film of the Year' at the IFFM for his film means a lot to Ali, he said.
"The validation that I seek is the warmth and popularity among the audience as a filmmaker. (But) It does make me feel happy to receive an award. I hope the popularity of the film is reflected in the awards as well. I'm sure everyone in the unit will be happy about the awards. Hopefully, the 'Breakout Film' award will start a trend." Besides Amar Singh Chamkila, another film with an Ali connection is currently in the spotlight. The 2018 film Laila Majnu, which has gained cult status over the years after receiving a lukewarm response at the box office, re-released in theatres last week.
The filmmaker, who presented and co-wrote the movie with director-brother Sajid Ali, said he is grateful to the audience for giving so much love to Laila Majnu.
"I'm glad that people can return to my films whenever they want just as I return to many of my favourite films by other filmmakers again and again. It was almost a paradox that after the movie runs for its first run in the theatre and then it goes out of the theatre it usually never makes it back, so you always miss watching the film on the big screen.
"The only choice is to watch it on a platform. But the ability to watch it on the big screen is remarkable and I feel a lot of gratitude towards the audience because this is a people-led movement. People first asked for Rockstar, and then Laila Majnu," he added. Ali is already working on a number of scripts, but he is yet to decide which one would catch the flight first.
"There's going to be a man-woman relationship (at the centre) but it is not in the expected route. There will be something new as well for me in the film that I'm planning now."