My film Avijatrik — The Wanderlust of Apu, which is the concluding part of the epic novel Aparajito by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay and sequel to the great Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, has won two National Film Awards of India for the year 2020, in its 68th edition. This is the most coveted and the highest film award in India. Silver Lotus (Rajat Kamal) for the Best Film (Bengali) and Best Cinematography. At the same time the President of India presented us with a citation that officially recognised Avijatrik as the official sequel to the classic Apu trilogy by Satyajit Ray.

The entire team is elated after getting these recognitions from the government of India and to be officially a part of a great legacy and world film history. Although we have won five WBFJA awards for Avijatrik, as well as 26 international awards, 42 international nominations and 18 official selections across the five continents, nothing beats the gravitas of National Film Awards as this award was presented by the President to the winners.

The awards were announced officially through a live broadcast across the channels and social media by the ministry. We were overjoyed after the announcement and my phone virtually crashed with the outpouring of good wishes, texts and calls. It was frantic to say the least. Avijatrik was the only Bengali feature film in this edition to win any award and we were honoured.

Subhrajit receives the National Film Award for Best Film (Bengali) from President Droupadi Murmu

Flashback

Now when I look back at my decade-long journey, I can distinctly remember the dejections, heartbreaks, countless sleepless nights and so many obstacles that came in my way in order to materialise my dreams. Many of my colleagues and friends laughed and discouraged me... they even mocked me as I was trying to make a sequel to the famous Apu trilogy, three of the greatest films ever made in world film history by none other than the legend, the master Satyajit Ray himself. It would be sacrilegious to touch the holy cow, and that too by me, a rank outsider in the so-called elite group of the Bengali film fraternity.

Recently Girish Kasaravalli, one of the greatest film-makers of India, a living legend, said: “I have no hesitation to say that this film Avijatrik matches the excellence of Apur Sansar on all counts,” after watching the film.

The appreciation and awards from the farthest corners of the globe is my answer to those people with negative mindsets, who had tried their best to stop me, but failed miserably in front of my iron will. I do not even pity them, they don’t deserve that much attention from me.

Visually, I wanted this film to be as exotic and as breathtaking as it can be, to portray the real India, to portray the wanderlust of Apu.

There’s a scene where Shankar takes Apu to the excavation site of Sarnath where a group of European archaeologists are unearthing the forgotten root of India’s glorious past.

Shooting this scene was a production department’s nightmare. Hundreds of junior actors, horses, mules, vintage jeep, huge set, main actors, respected dignitaries who kindly consented to act in the scene as guest stars, and the producer Gaurang Jalan all were present there. We had almost 400 people on that day at the shooting.

The set was constructed in Taki, to recreate the actual site. We took every possible photographs from the actual site in Sarnath during our recce and it took almost a month to recreate this set according to the reference. We added many layers and details later on through VFX.

The Event

At the Delhi Airport I met Girish Kasaravalli, who flew down from Bangalore at the same time to receive his 15th National Award. From him, I also came to know that, in the south film industries, the state governments individually felicitates each National Award winner every year. They respect and honour good cinema and its creators. No wonder they are ruling the Indian film industry right now.

I got up quite early in excitement of the big day and was done with my commitments well within time.

After lunch and a brief rest we boarded the bus, which was accompanied by a pilot car and arrived at the venue, Vigyan Bhavan.

It was full of high-ranking officials, MPs, ministers, security officers and national media. We got off from the bus and walked the red carpet to enter the venue. Supratim (DoP) and I went together. Madhurji (Bhandarkar) joined in after some time. Guests entered the venue from a different gate. They were assigned different rows to sit. The award winners at the front, followed by the juries and then the guests. It was jam-packed at the auditorium.

I felt suffocated with so many people and the glare of the huge media presence and their flash lights. I came out of the auditorium and took a stroll in the adjacent open courtyard to catch a breath. A security officer noticed me and asked me to follow her and escorted me to the VIP Lounge behind the main hall. The Lounge was full of big names. Anurag Thakur, Madhur Bhandarkar, Ashutosh Gowariker, Priyadarshan, Ajay Devgn, Surya, Jyothika, Asha Parekh, Poonam Dhillon, Udit Narayan and Girish Kasaravalli among others. I exchanged pleasantries with all of them. We sat together and had tea.

Then the protocol officer came and asked us to take our seats in the main auditorium as Madam President was about to arrive. We came together amidst the huge cheer from the guests and the over-enthusiastic national media and their flash bulbs and entered the auditorium once again and took our pre-designated seats.

President Droupadi Murmu entered the auditorium and rest of the evening followed exactly as we had rehearsed on the previous day. Then the time came, my name was announced, I went up on the stage amidst a huge round of applause from the audience. Madam President congratulated me, followed by Anurag Thakur, who addressed me as ‘dear brother’. I reciprocated with a pranam. She then presented me with a certificate, a citation and a silver medal.

After the event, at the hotel, Anurag Thakur hosted a dinner for us. That was more of an informal affair though. The entire team of Soorarai Pottru congratulated me there as well as others. My journey with Apu was an eventful one, which is done and now it is time for me to move on to my next.