30 years on, Indian film wins critics’ award at Venice fest

NEW DELHI: The last time an Indian film won the international critics’ award at the Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest, was in 1990, for Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s ‘Mathilukal’. On Saturday, Chaitanya Tamhane repeated the feat with ‘The Disciple’ .
The 90-year-old Fipresci, or The International Federation of Film Critics, hands out awards at major international film festivals. Last year, the Venice Fipresci had gone to Roman Polanski’s historical drama about the Dreyfus Affair, ‘An Officer and a Spy’.
“I’m feeling good, very grateful actually. It’s great for the entire team,” Tamhane told TOI, hours from the announcement of the Golden Lion, which his film is in competition for — a first in 20 years for an Indian feature. Is he nervous? “No, I am ok. I am already happy that we got the Fipresci. I was happy since the time the film was selected and we made it to Venice. But yes, obviously, it does feel nice when you get that kind of recognition.”
‘The Disciple’ spans three decades of an Indian classical music practitioner’s journey, rooted in traditions laid out by his guru, his mentors and his father. It is an immersive telling,” Tamhane told TOI. The film opened to critical acclaim and rave reviews.
Six years ago, Tamhana, 26 then, had won two Fiprescis — one at the Buenos Aires festival and another at the Vienna festival — for his first feature, ‘Court’, a Marathilanguage film about an activist accused of abetting a manual scavenger’s suicide with a song. After gathering critical acclaim, the film had come home to a National Award.