21 March,2015 07:27 AM IST | | Gaurav Dubey
Vinay Pathak, who plays the resilient freedom fighter Gour Hari Das in the biopic, recently won the Best Actor award in Paris for the role; the film will also be the official entry to the New York Indian Film Festival
Anant Mahadevan's Gour Hari Dastaan The Freedom File, has taken off on a great route of recognition and acclaim. Based on the struggles of a former freedom fighter, Gour Hari Das, the movie was inspired by a report in mid-day, with actors Ranvir Shorey and Tannishtha Chatterjee playing journalists.
Vinay Pathak won the Best Actor award at the Extravagant India International Film Festival in Paris, for the titular role of Gour Hari Das
Last week, actor Vinay Pathak, who plays Gour Hari Das, the freedom fighter who had to fight two wars one with the British government and then with its Indian counterpart was declared Best Actor at the Extravagant India International Film Festival in Paris by an all-European jury.
The film will now go to the New York Indian Film Festival in May and the San Francisco Global Film Festival in August as the official selection. Apart from this, director Ananth Mahadevan also plans to screen the film for Amitabh Bachchan and his family.
Making its World Premiere in the Indian Panorama at IFFI Goa, Gour Hari Dastaan was the only Hindi film to be selected at the prestigious International Film Festival of Kerala, where it was received with a standing ovation.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has recommended it this year to the Cannes International Film Festival and Beijing International Film Festival. Speaking to mid-day, Mahadevan said, "I think the time is ripe to break the clutter and speak a global cinema language.
The international fraternity acknowledging Gour Hari Dastaan is a clear sign of subtlety and understatement overruling melodrama and clichés. The film is rooted in India, yet speaks a universal truth of a man whose identity is questioned, thereby denying him the great truth of his past.
The protagonist is credible, sympathetic and teaches us the lesson of resilience. The world sees this as a new element of Indian cinema, while making a strong political statement. In fact, most of the foreigners couldn't believe that Vinay Pathak was the same actor in the film when they met him."
