Just weeks after Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan won laurels at the Cannes film festival, another Indian film has won two awards at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. Thithi, directed by Bengaluru-based Raam Reddy bagged the Concorso Cineasti del Presente and the Swatch Award for Best First Feature.

The film, in Kannada, features actors previously unheard of and was shot in Karnataka’s Mandya district. It tells the story of how three generations of sons react to the death of their grandfather, Century Gowda. The film then leads up to the thithi ceremony that is held eleven days after the death.

Raam, from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, is a 25-year-old filmmaker who has previously directed short fiction films, including a Telugu short called Ika. He studied direction at the Prague Film School and has also published a novel.

In a press statement, Raam said that capturing “India’s soul on film” was something he had always dreamt of. “Some of the characters in the film have become symbols to me — of how life can be lived simply, unequivocally, with grace — and I feel blessed to have had the chance to immortalise them,” he said.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Entertainment> Sandalwood / Deccan Chronicle – August 19th, 2015