Eminent director Aparna Sen was honoured with the ‘Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award’ at the annual award ceremony of West Bengal Film Journalists Association (WBFJA) for her contributions to Indian cinema.
Accepting the award here on Sunday, Sen expressed gratitude and praised contemporary Bengali filmmakers for carrying forward the legacy of Bengali cinema.
"I thank the organisers for conferring this honour to me. I have great respect and faith in contemporary filmmakers in Bengal like Srijit Mukherji, Atanu Ghosh and many others. Let us carry this rich legacy of Bengali cinema further," the 'Parama' director said at the acceptance speech.
The event saw 'Manik Babur Megh' win Best Bengali Film, with Chandan Sen receiving Best Actor (Male) for his role in the film. Srijit Mukherji and Debaloy Bhattacharya jointly won Best Director for 'Badami Haynar Kabale' and 'Padatik,' while Mukherji’s 'Oti Uttam' earned Special Recognition for Technical Innovation.
"Padatik is very close to my heart. It is my tribute to auteur Mrinal Sen. 'Oti Uttam' has been my labour of love. I watched all films of the matinee idol multiple times and reached out to the producers to study and scan the footage and frames for each computer-generated shot involving the idol. His voice was replicated through AI. The end result was liked by most viewers. Thank you WBFJA for honouring my works," Mukherji said.
Actor Rituparna Sengupta was named Best Actor (Female) for 'Ajogya', and Abhinandan Banerjee won Most Promising Director for 'Manik Babur Megh'. 'Khadaan' received the Most Popular Film award, and its star Dev was named Most Popular Actor. Anjan Dutt was given the 'Best Screenplay' crown for 'Chalchitra Ekhon.' Other notable winners included Amit Chatterjee for Best Music Director (Badami Haynar Kabale), and Rathijit Bhattacharya for Best Background Score (Khadaan). Playback singer awards went to Timir Biswas (Tekka), Rathijit Bhattacharya (Khadaan), and Antara Mitra (Khadaan), with Kaushik Ganguly winning Best Lyricist for 'Ajogya.' The function was also attended by prominent members of Bengali entertainment industry including Saswata Chatterjee, Mamata Shankar, Paran Bandyopadhyay among others.
The ceremony, held at Priya Cinema, paid tributes to Raj Kapoor on his birth centenary, themed around the circus industry, with the iconic melody 'Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan' from Mera Naam Joker playing alongside a short feature on the history of the circus.
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