Ottaal bags Crystal Bear at Berlin Film Fest

After clinching a National Award and sweeping all top honours in IFFK, director Jayaraj's Ottal continued its golden streak by winning big at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film, based on Anton Chekhov's short story Vanka, was awarded the Crystal Bear award for the best children's film.
The movie explores the theme of child labour through the relationship of a young boy and his grandfather.Incidentally, Ottal is the third consecutive Indian film to be honoured at the film fest after Avinash Arun's Killa in 2014 and Nagesh Kukunoor's Dhanak in 2015.
Jayaraj had earlier told us, 'Different juries have picked the film and I think that's because Ottaal conveyed an emotion that appealed to everyone equally. I think it's that sincerity of the subject and the emotional element that have been rewarded.'
The director was also pleased about how he approached the sensitive subject. 'Ottal's talks about the painful reality of child labour. We could have approached in a manner where it is a torture for the kid. But instead we chose to go the route where we could give importance to his beautiful, inspiring environment he grew up in and how it gets taken away from him. I think our decision to maintain that ratio was brilliant," he says.