Shefali Shah, Jaideep Ahlawat win top honours at New York Indian Film Festival

Shefali Shah
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Actors Shefali Shah, Jaideep Ahlawat and director Avinash Arun Dhaware won the top honours at the 2023 New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) that showcased new Indian cinema among the diaspora and global audience here.

The gala ran from May 11-14 in New York and this year’s festival line-up featured 35 films that showcased the depth and range of contemporary Indian cinema, which included dramas, documentaries, and short films.

The festival culminated on Sunday with an award ceremony. Winners were announced for prizes in categories such as best actor, film, director and screenplay.

Saudi Vellakka won the Best Film award at the 2023 edition of the NYIFF, while Dhaware received the Best Director award for his critically acclaimed film Three of Us starring Shah, Ahlawat and Swanand Kirkire.

Jaideep Ahlawat
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Shah and Ahlawat won the Best Actress and Best Actor awards respectively for Three of Us, which was the opening film at the festival. Deepti Naval and Kalki Koechlin-starrer Goldfish was the film extravaganza’s closing title.

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Follower received the Best Screenplay award, To Kill a Tiger won the Best Documentary (Short & Feature) and Birah won the Best Short (Narrative) award while Leslie Shampaine received the prestigious Best Documentary by a Woman award for Call Me Dancer.

Footprints On Water, starring Adil Hussain, won the prestigious title of Best Debut Film at NYIFF, as acclaimed by the Film Critics Circle of India.

The highlight of this year’s festival, considered North America’s longest running and most prestigious Indian film festival, included a special New York screening of Rahul Chittella’s critically praised film Gulmohar starring cinema veterans Sharmila Tagore and Amol Palekar, and acclaimed actors Manoj Bajpayee and Simran.

Following the special screening of Gulmohar to a packed house, NYIFF Festival Director Aseem Chhabra moderated a Q&A session with the film’s team including Tagore, Bajpayee, actor Suraj Sharma, Chittella and cinematographer Eeshit Narain.