The 70th National Film Awards ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi on Tuesday. It celebrated the extraordinary talents for their contribution to the Indian film industry. One of the several personalities who won the National Film Award was actress Yami Gautam's father, Mukesh Gautam. The director won his first National Award in the Best Punjabi Feature Film category for his movie, Baghi Di Dhee. In an Instagram post, Yami shared her pride in her father's achievements and expressed her happiness on his big win. The actress wrote, “Very emotional moment as my father, Shri Mukesh Gautam, received his first National Award, as a director, for his film - ‘Baghi Di Dhee'. Emotions cannot be poured in words. I am such a proud daughter.”
She added, “My father's journey till here has been one of the hardest journeys I have seen & yet couldn't deter him from his consistent passion for work & immense honesty in ethics. Your family is proud of you, papa. A special mention to @rabindra.narayan & @jasrajsinghbhatti for being a fantastic team.” Reacting to the post, actor Ayushmann Khurrana's wife Tahira Kashyap wrote in the comment section, “Big congratulations.”
Earlier, Mukesh Gautam shared his reaction to his National Award win. “Of course, it feels wonderful to win the award. The feeling of winning the award is even more beautiful because the film was challenging in terms of budget constraints, as we had limited resources, and research required since it dates to 100 years,” the filmmaker said in a conversation with the Times of India.
He said, “I work with the objective that every piece of work should have a purpose, a meaning, and a message. When I started shooting this film, it was meant to be a telefilm. While shooting I realised it was way bigger and decided to release it as a feature film.”
Baghi Di Dhee is a story from the Ghadar Movement and is based on a tale by renowned Punjabi author Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir. The narrative centres on a courageous young rebel daughter who succeeded her father in the Movement during India's freedom struggle.
On the work front, Yami Gautam was last seen in Article 370.