`Kolkata, Feb 15 (PTI) Atanu Ghosh’s ‘Binisutoy’ (Without Strings) and Anik Dutta’s ‘Barunbabur Bondhu’ (Friend of Barunbabu) were adjudged the Best Film of 2021 and 2020 respectively by the West Bengal Film Journalists’ Association.
It is the oldest award given to representative Bengali films of different genres.
Ghosh and Dutta received the trophy and citations from eminent Bengali film actor Prosenjit Chatterjee at a programme at Priya Cinema in south Kolkata on Sunday.
It was the first award ceremony to be held in an auditorium in the past two years in the state in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Best Actor Male 2020 award was jointly shared by Parambrata Chatterjee for ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ (Second Man) and Saswata Chatterjee for ‘Chobiyal’ (The Photographer).
The Best Actor Male 2021 award went to Ritwick Chakraborty for ‘Binisutoy’ and Paran Bandyopadhyay for ‘Tonic’.
The Best Actor Female 2020 award was given to Aparajita Auddy for ‘Cheeni’ (film named after the central character) and Jaya Ahsan for ‘Binisutoy’ in 2021.
Young filmmaker Arjun Dutta got the Best Promising Director crown 2020 for ‘Abyakto’ (Unspoken), while director Arun Roy got the Best Promising Director honour 2021 for ‘Hiralal’ sharing it with Subhrajit Mitra for ‘Abhijatrik’ (aristocratic).
Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ was adjudged the best popular film for 2020 while Dev’s co-production ‘Tonic’ was the most popular film for 2021.
Anirban Bhattacharya was adjudged the most popular actor for ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ and Dev for his portrayal in ‘Tonic’.
Singer Anupam Roy was given the Best Music Director award 2020 for ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ while young musician Nabarun Bose got the crown for 2021 for ‘Tangra Blues’.
The Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award was jointly shared by Victor Banerjee and Dipankar Dey.
Dey who broke down while receiving the honour said, “this is the biggest award in my life though I had received a national award in the past. This award is significant as it is named after my mentor Satyajit Ray and given by film journalists of Bengal”.
Dey’s first film role was in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Seemabaddha’ (Company Limited, 1971). He also starred in Ray’s ‘Jana Aranya’ (The Middleman, 1976), ‘Ganashatru’ (Enemy of the People, 1990) and ‘Agantuk’ (The Stranger, 1991).
He had received recognition as the Best Supporting Actor for ‘Parama’ directed by Aparna Sen at the 1986 National Film Awards.
Banerjee could not be present at the event as he was indisposed, the organisers said.
Prosenjit Chatterjee said this award ceremony was much needed to give a boost to the Bengali film industry which had been impacted during the pandemic as far as big-screen releases were concerned.
“DwitiyoPurush sweeps the WBFJA Awards 2021 – the oldest film awards in India – with 6 wins. Best Film (Popular), Best Actor (Popular) for Anirban Bhattacharya, Best Actor (Critics) for Parambrata Chatterjee, Best Music Composer, Best Screenplay and Best Sound Design. Congratulations to the team,” Srijit Mukherji tweeted. PTI SUS MM MM
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.