Murga wins Best Film at Swachh Bharat Short Film Festival

Murga by debutant director, Katyayan Shivpuri was awarded the best film and a cash prize of 10 lakhs at the Swachh Bharat Short Film Festival (SBSFF) held at Siri Fort, Delhi on October 2, marking the birth anniversary of Mahatama Gandhi.

Katyayan Shivpuri, Director, Murga

Organized and curated by National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) on behalf of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, this unique festival, is a cinematic presentation of short films of not more than 3 minutes, dedicated to the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The festival received an overwhelming response with a total of 4346 entries in more than 20 languages from across the country, including Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Ghaziabad, Noida in the North to Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu in the South. The Eastern and Western region too participated in huge numbers with entries from Assam, West Bengal, Orissa in the East to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Pune and Surat in the west. The Central state of Madhya Pradesh was also not left behind with almost 170 entries from Madhya Pradesh including 30 from Indore alone.

Still from Murga

The entries have been received from all age groups including children as young as 10 years.  14-year-old Sidharth Raj’s ‘The Unsung Heroes of Swachh Bharat Mission’ was among the top 20 selected films.

The festival was a competition of short films with duration of not more than 3 minutes, wherein from the 4346 films submitted, a distinguished jury comprising of eminent theatre and film actor – producer Ms. Vani Tripathi, award-winning filmmaker Ms. Gitanjali Rao, and celebrated advertising personality Mr. Prahlad Kakar, selected 20 short films.

The directors of the top ten films have been given cash awards of INR 10 lakhs (first film), 5 lakhs (3 Winner of 2^nd prize) and 2 lakhs respectively (6 winners of 3^rd prize), while the next ten were awarded consolation certificates. All applicants are being given certificates of participation.

The winning entries were announced in a special felicitation programme held in New Delhi on October 2, 2016 in the presence of Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Minister Information and Broadcasting, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (Retd.), AVSM, Hon’ble Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting.

Jury Member Vani Tripathi

At the event the names of 5 eminent filmmakers Shoojit Sircar, Madhur Bhadarkar, Ramesh Sippy, Prasoon Pandey, RadhaKrishna Jagarlamudi was announced to make 3 minute films on Swachh Bharat Mission. Madhur Bhadarkar, Prasoon Pandey and RadhaKrishna Jagarlamudi were present at the function.

Shri Naidu along with Col. Rathore released the book published by Publications Division, authored by noted Gandhian Shri Sudarshan Iyengar “In the Footsteps of Mahatma: Gandhi & Sanitation”.

The ceremony witnessed breathtaking performances by Kailash Kher and Indian band Advaita.

Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, said, “Watching the films was like a feast. I am happy to attend the festival which aims at promoting Swachh Bharat mission through the powerful medium of cinema.”

 Actor-producer, Vani Tripathi, one of the Jury members said, “I think it’s a fantastic idea because it’s a very unique effort. Also being on the jury one thing was very interesting, I saw that one we are a cinema literate country; two it’s interesting that people from all walks of life, all kinds of language, cutting across so many languages came together for a cause and made such brilliant films and also the sense of humour that we saw in the film, it’s a great initiative and great intellectual property that the ministry has created and it should go further.”

The award-winning director, Katyayan Shivpuri said “I’m super happy, thanks to everyone who helped me make the film. We thought let’s do something that’s not preachy, we wanted to make it fun so this whole idea of saying sorry and becoming a Murga came in.”

Commenting on the prize money, he said, “I’m going to first pay people who worked for free for the film.”

Kailash Kher performing at the award ceremony

Singer Kailash Kher who sang the Swachh Bharat Anthem said, “India has a lot of talent and passion. There’s a lot of importance of these two things. If such a platform helps our lives become better, then the passion plays along and this programme is an example of the same.”

Names of the top 10 Award Winning Films