‘Homebound’ wins big at Critics’ Choice Awards

Mumbai: Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘Homebound’ emerged as the biggest winner at the 8th Critics’ Choice Awards, sweeping four major honours, including ‘Best Film’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Actor’ for Vishal Jethwa and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for Shalini Vatsa.

The annual awards, presented by the Film Critics Guild in association with ‘WPP Motion Entertainment’, honour excellence across feature films, web series, short films and documentaries, with voting conducted by 56 film critics from across the country.

On the web series front, Vikramaditya Motwane’s crime thriller ‘Black Warrant’ dominated with four wins - ‘Best Web Series’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for Rahul Bhat and ‘Best Writing’ for Satyanshu Singh and Arkesh Ajay.

Priyanka Bose won ‘Best Actress’ in the feature film category for ‘Agra’, while Pasupathy claimed ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for ‘Bison Kaalamaadan’, his second Critics’ Choice win.

Jaideep Ahlawat (‘Paatal Lok’ Season 2) and Monika Panwar (‘Khauf’) took home the ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Actress’ honours respectively in the web series category, with Tillotama Shome winning ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for ‘Paatal Lok’ Season 2.

Writing honours in the ‘Feature Film’ category went to Rohan Parashuram Kanawade for ‘Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)’, the Sundance-winning film that had received three nominations.

Cinematography and editing awards went to Sunil Borkar (‘Jugnuma’) and Chaman Chakko (‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’), respectively. The FCG Gender Sensitivity Award was presented to ‘Sthal’.

In short films, filmmaker Apurva Bardapurkar’s ‘Maaybaapache Aashirwaad (Blessings)’ led with three wins - ‘Best Film’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Writing’. Sunny Hinduja (‘That’s A Wrap’) and Sheeba Chaddha (‘Nighiyaan Chhavan’) won acting honours in the category.

Vivek Chaudhary’s ‘I, Poppy’, a ‘Hot Docs ‘winner, claimed the ‘Best Documentary’ prize.

Veteran actress Farida Jalal, who was recently seen in Anusha Rizvi’s ‘The Great Shamsuddin Family’, was conferred the Extraordinary Contribution to Cinema Award, celebrating a career spanning decades and genres.

Accepting the ‘Best Director’ award, Ghaywan said the recognition meant a great deal to him and the entire ‘Homebound’ team. “Film criticism pushes us to learn, reflect and do better, so this award truly means a lot to me and the entire ‘Homebound’ team. ‘Homebound’ comes from the lives and lived experiences of people across our country who are often overlooked and unseen. It’s a tribute to their spirit to keep going in the face of dwindling hope,” Ghaywan said.