Arun Karthick’s acclaimed film
Nasir
has won the Golden Wood Award for Best International Feature at the Arthouse Asia Film Festival in Kolkata, and the filmmaker is stoked about the top win for more reasons than one. “I feel so elated to win this award at such a time. And receiving this award in Kolkata was such an emotional and special moment because the editor of the film, the late Arghya Basu — who is also from the city — edited the movie there,” Arun beams.
Going on to dedicate the award to the editor, he adds, “He (Arghya) believed cinema could reach people irrespective of borders and challenges. My film was also premiered at the Basusree Cinema, which is where
Satyajit Ray’s Pather
Panchali
was premiered as well. This place has seen all the blockbusters and to receive the award here was beautiful,” she says.
Set in Coimbatore, Nasir explores a day in the life of a working-class Muslim man, who is at the receiving end of religious bigotry. Arun adds that it was great to see people relate to the film’s protagonist. “The film is about a common man and several people seemed to relate to the character. If you relate yourself to the subject, the danger that he faces becomes your danger,” he says, adding that the issues and discrimination involving identities have thrown up a discomforting truth in the last few years.
The filmmaker, who is waiting for distributing partners to release the film, adds that the community viewing of cinema in the theatres reinstates the imagination and belief of a filmmaker. “To listen to the audiences physically was so exciting,” he says, adding that the emerging trend of independent films in Tamil cinema should be accepted by the local film ecosystem.
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