Premium67th National Awards: Srijit Mukherji’s Gumnaami that stars Prasenjit Chatterjee wins two awards
This is Srijit’s fourth film to win the National Award. It won the Best Adapted Screenplay and the Best Bengali Film at the 67th National Awards.
Last Updated: 05.24 PM, Oct 25, 2021
National Award-winning director Srijit Mukherji’s Gumnaami added another cap to his award-winning track record, and another glorious win for Bengali cinema in particular and language cinema by a long shot. The film won the Best Adapted Screenplay and the Best Bengali Film at the 67th National Awards.
The Vinci Da director took to his Instagram handle to post about the win. Sharing snapshots of the certificate, he wrote, “67th National Awards. #Gumnaami wins Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Bengali Film. 5th individual National Award, 10th for the Team. Congrats to all and thank you for all the love.”
Gumnaami marks the fourth film to receive felicitation at the prestigious National Film Awards, after Jaatishwar, Chotushkone and Ek Je Chhilo Raja.
Sri Venkatesh Films, the banner that produced the film, posted about the win on their Instagram handle too. Have a look.
The film stars Prasenjit Chatterjee in the lead role as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The plot is a fictional account of the Mukherjee Commission hearings and draws from the book Conundrum of Anuj Dhar, Chandrachur Ghose, and the work of Mission Netaji voluntary organisation. Gumnaami was released on October 2, on Gandhi Jayanti, in 2019 with the central theme of the mysterious disappearance or death of the iconic freedom fighter that has intrigued and kept the people of Bengal especially forever wanting to know more. Through three theorists in the narrative, Mukherji tapped into the confounding subject and presented a smart, well-structured take on it.
In a statement to India Today shortly after the announcement of the award in March this year, Mukherji had described Bose as ‘an idea, a consciousness, of the indomitable spirit of me, of resolve, of uncompromising love for one’s motherland.’ Terming him to be immortal, Mukherji had said that the leader who gave a new idiom to radical nationalist spirit against the British in India will ‘remain relevant as a movement.’
Mukherji’s cast faced death threats, personal attacks and protests from political outfits for making the film that is replete with the alternate theory to the mainstream narrative as found in our history textbooks. And now, with the National Award, his resilience and passion for the subject to be brought out into the public consciousness for a deeper questioning into the theme bore fruition.
On the work front, Srijit Mukherji has a new-age futuristic love story X=Prem lined up. He also announced his cinematic tribute to the legendary Uttam Kumar, with Oti Uttam, on the occasion of the cine star’s birthday this year.
You can watch the Bengali version of the film on Hoichoi.