'Chauthi Koot', Nawazuddin's 'Haraamkhor' win big at MAMI

Mumbai: Gurvinder Singh's "Chauthi Koot", India's official entry at Cannes this year, bagged the best film award, while actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer teacher-student love story "Haraamkhor" won the runners up trophy at the closing ceremony of Jio MAMI 17th Mumbai Film Festival.

The two films were screened in the India Gold section category of competition held during the seven-day festival, which showcased over 200 movies from 58 countries across the world.

"Chauthi Koot" ('Fourth Direction'), set during the Sikh separatist movement of the 1980s, won the Golden Gateway Award for India Gold. Debutant filmmaker Shlok Sharma's "Haraamkhor" won the Silver Gateway Award in the same section.

Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the special guest of the evening. He along with filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra was accompanied by the young adults from Jammu & Kashmir, who were flown in to Mumbai to attend the festival.

Superstar Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Vidya Balan, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Kiran Rao, Dibakar Banerjee, Jackie Shroff, Radhika Apte and Pan Nalin were among the celebrities, who attended the final night of the festival, hosted by actress Kalki Koechlin.

In the international competition section, Guatemalan- French drama film "Ixcanul" ('Volcano') by Jayro Bustamante, won the top award. The Golden Gateway Award. The film is also Gautemala's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.

Bengaluru based director Raam Reddy's debut movie "Thithi" bagged the Jury Grand Prize for international competition. Special jury mention for achievement in directing was awarded to Cesar Augusto Acevedo for "Land and Shade".

"Ixcanul" actress Maria Telon and Farzana Nawabi ("Mina Walking") got the special jury mention for achievement in acting. In Dimensions Mumbai, Dhruv Saigal's "Kunal" won the best film honour. Director Jayaraj won the film for social impact award for his movie "Ottal", which also bagged the Golden Gateway Award for children's feature.

French romantic-comedy "One Plus One" ('Un plus une'), directed by Claude Lelouch, brought the curtains down on the festival.