Karenvir Bohra's 'Kutub Minar' receives an Honorable mention at the prestigious Berlin Indie Film Festival

Sanjay Mishra and Karenvir Bohra in `Kutub Minar`. Picture courtesy/PR

Content-based on thought-provoking ideas and narratives have seen a boom in recent times, few of which have even gone on to represent India at esteemed international festivals. Karenvir Bohra's latest film, 'Kutub Minar' (The Eighth Wonder) has bagged the prestigious mention for Best Feature Film at The Berlin Indie Film Festival 2021. Directed by Raaj Aashoo, and produced by Pancham Singh, the film narrates the story of a remarkable father-son duo, where the latter suffers from a rare condition of having an abnormally large reproductive organ, called macro-phallus. The film managed to break out of the deep corners of Indian independent cinema and made a mark at the global stage.

On Kutub Minar winning big at the BIFF, Karenvir Bohra said, "I don't want to reveal much about the movie because you have to see the film to know what this eighth wonder Kutub Minar is all about. At the Film Festival when they saw it, they were surprised to see such a bold concept but still a slice of life kind of movie. It really came as a dream to us when the Berlin Indie Film Festival emailed saying you can download your certificate of victory. We thought this email would state 'thank you for participating, better luck next time', because you don't really expect your film to be appreciated at the global level. But this time it happened to us and Kutub Minar was chosen amongst all the movies in Asia. It is a huge deal for all of us and keeping our fingers crossed we've applied for a lot of other festivals and I hope we keep breaking grounds like this and keep making movies like this".

Talking about his experience working on the film, he added, "'Kutub Minar' was one of the scariest as well as the most exhilarating experience. Scary, because I think this was one of the first movies that was shot during the pandemic, We shot in September 2020 and had to contain ourselves in one place during the whole shoot. It was exhilarating because it was a very challenging and bold subject and it is a completely different look for me to physically and mentally prepare to play a character like this. Also, I was under a lot of pressure because I was working with such fine actors like Sanjay Mishra ji, Sonu sir and my friend Sumit Gulati. Working with Raaj was like a breeze. He knew exactly what he wanted, how much is right, how much is less. Even Sanjay Mishra ji loved this about him that he knew exactly what he needed and when to let the actor go on to get the best out of him. I think, in the coming years he'll be a very phenomenal director. Raaj and I are working on another movie as well, so I think this pair will do wonders".

Along with the international accolade for the film, actor Karenvir has received much acclaim for his nuanced portrayal of the character. Kutub Minar had its premiere at The Berlin Independent Film Festival, the organization that aims to offer plenty of opportunities for indie films, with an emphasis on showcasing new filmmakers achieving great things with tiny budgets and safeguarding film culture.

With a magnificent cast including Minissha Lamba, Sanjay Mishra and Tridha Choudhary, this is Karenvir's second major outing post the release of ‘Hume Tumse Pyar Kitna' in 2019. Having been shot amidst extraordinary health protocols necessitated by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the film surpassed all expectations and headed to deliver tremendous and gritty content at the global platform.

Also read: Karenvir Bohra: Was in tears seeing Sonu Sood's interview; I pray for everyone