Mumbai: After a gap of three decades, Chaitanya Tamhane has brought the glory back to India with his latest offering. His film titled The Disciple has bagged the FIPRESCI award at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival.
The last Indian film to win the prestigious prize at Venice was Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Mathilukal in 1990.
Tamhane said that the win is a special honour. "I want to thank the FIPRESCI and its jury members from the bottom of my heart for their continued support for our work. This is a very special honour for us given that the jury for this award comprises film critics and journalists from around the world. We are all quite thrilled and excited with this fantastic start to the journey of The Disciple," the filmmaker said.
The Marathi-language film had its premiere in Venice last week. It is the first Indian film to make the cut at the film fest after Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding in 2001, which had won Golden Lion, the highest prize at the festival.
The Disciple is set in contemporary Mumbai and follows an Indian classical music vocalist who, after years of diligent training and tradition, begins to wonder whether it is really possible to achieve the excellence he strives for.