OTTplay Awards 2022: Know Your Winners: Abhimanyu Dassani wins Best Debut Male (Film) for Meenakshi Sundareshwar

At the OTTplay Awards and Conclave 2022, the first pan India OTT Awards, Abhimanyu Dassani bagged the award for Best Debut Male (Film) for Meenakshi Sundareshwar. The award was presented by Hina Khan. As Abhimanyu was unable to grace the event, the award was accepted by the actor’s mother, actress Bhagyasree. Here’s all you need to know about Abhimanyu Dassani, his filmography, debut, upcoming projects and more..

About the winner

Abhimanyu Dassani is the son of veteran actress Bhagyasree and Himalaya Dasani. His sister Avantika Dassani is also an actor, who made her debut in Huma Qureshi’s web series Mithya.

Abhimanyu got his start in the film industry by working as an assistant director to Rohan Sippy, assisting on films like Abhishek Bachchan’s Dum Maaro Dum and Ayushmann Khurrana’s Nautanki Saala!. Abhimanyu made his acting debut in the action comedy Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota(2018), which also starred Radhika Madan, Gulshan Devaiah, Mahesh Manjrekar and Jimit Trivedi. The actor reportedly performed all of his stunts for the film, even suffering injuries during the course of filming.

The romantic comedy Meenakshi Sundareshwar marked his next onscreen outing, followed by Nikamma, which saw Abhimanyu back in his familiar action hero avatar. The latter saw Abhimanyu share the screen with Shilpa Shetty and Shirley Setia. The film marked Shirley’s film debut and Shilpa’s first onscreen outing in more than seven years.

About Meenakshi Sundareshwar

Netflix’s Meenakshi Sundareshwar revolved around the tale of a newly wed couple, focussing on their trials and tribulations of having to live apart immediately after getting married. Abhimanyu essays the role of Sundareshwar, who, upon getting his dream job in Bangalore, is forced to live away from his new bride after he realises that the company he is working for will not hire married people. Sanya Malhotra stars as Meenakshi, Sundareshwar’s wife. The film focusses on the toll their long distance relationship takes on their marriage, and how the two strive to work on the same.

Meenakshi Sundareshwar was directed by Vivek Soni and produced under the banner of Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment. The film was produced by Karan, Apoorva Mehta, and Somen Mishra. Vivek and Aarsh Vora penned the film’s script.

Part of the review for the film on OTTplay reads “Abhimanyu lends a certain boyish charm to his character of Sundareshwar aka Sundar. Even though, his accent falters at certain places, he makes up for it with his incredible acting chops”.

Accolades

For his debut film Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, Abhimanyu won a string of accolades for his performance. The actor won accolades at the IIFA Awards and Filmfare Awards, and was nominated at the 26th Star Screen Awards as well.

The winning speech

At the OTTplay Awards and Conclave 2022, Abhimanyu won the award for Best Debut Male (Film) for Meenakshi Sundareshwar. The actor was unable to attend the ceremony, and the award was accepted by his mother, Bhagyasree instead. The actress was all charm as she joked about how she couldnt attend the awards ‘for herself’ as she wasnt getting any work. She went on to say “But I am so happy, my son has really made me so proud. Not once, but thrice over for every work that he has done and I just hope that you keep loving him like this. And I hope he can live up to your expectations and do better and better work as the time is to come. Thank you so much for giving him this, he is gonna be thrilled and he is gonna say 'mom, I hope you thanked everyone.' Thank you all of you for watching it for making him who he is today. Thank you so so much."

Upcoming films/web series/project

Abhimanyu next project comes in the form of Aankh Micholi, which marks his fourth film, after Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, Meenakshi Sundareshwar and Nikamma. Aank Micholi will feature Mrunal Thakur as the female lead and is directed by Umesh Shukla. The is bankrolled under the banners of Sony Pictures Films India, Shukla and Ashish Wagh's Merry Go Round Studios.