Film director Sajin Baabu’s elation is evident in his voice. Biriyani , his third film as director, won the Special Jury Award at the 12th Bengaluru International Film Festival 2020 conducted by the Karnataka State Chalachitra Academy, which concluded on March 4. The citation said that it was a “powerful portrayal of the struggles and plight of suppressed women of the society.” Biriyani was among 13 movies screened in the competition section for Indian films. Sajin’s first film Asthamayamvarey had won an award at the same festival in 2015.
Biriyani was premiered in the Asiatic Film festival in Rome and it had won the Netpac award for the best film.
Narrated from a woman’s perspective, Biriyani is about the persecution her family faces when her brother is radicalised and goes missing. Film actor Kani Kusruti plays the lead role of Khadeeja in the film.
In an earlier interview to MetroPlus , Sajin had said: “For a couple of years now, the media has carried reports about youngsters being radicalised and travelling to countries in West Asia to join the Islamic State; some have been arrested, some are missing. I wanted to find out what happens to the families of those men. How have they been treated by neighbours, society, government and community? How have they sustained themselves? The questions haunted me,” says Sajin.
The film director recalls that after the award presentation, he was able to have a chat with the jury members and they congratulated him for his “bold choice to make a film on a theme that is not often discussed”.
