Madhuri Dixit, she of the luminous smile and dhak dhak moves, laughed as she opined that Ventilator, produced by Priyanka Chopra, might win the Best Film award at the Filmfare Awards Marathi 2017 while walking down the red carpet.

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The film which received a whopping 15 nominations bagged the Best Debut Director trophy for Rajesh Mapuskar, who had already won National Film Award 2017. Ventilator also took the Black Lady home for Best Original Story, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Sound Design.

Earlier in the evening, Chopra had gushed, “As a producer, I couldn’t have asked for anything more for my first Marathi venture. It’s such an honour for us at Purple Pebble Pictures and the entire team of Ventilator. 15 nominations... we’re truly overwhelmed. It’s a testament to Rajesh Mapuskar, Jitendra Joshi, Ashutosh Gowariker, Dr. Madhu Chopra and everyone who worked as a team, bringing their incredible skills to the mix and coming together to deliver such an amazing film. Thank you, Filmfare for the recognition and huge congratulations to the entire team.” Now if that doesn’t sound like an award acceptance speech, it certainly translated into one, as the day ended.

Ventilator, which marks Priyanka’s debut project as a producer, released last year and has been receiving considerable critical acclaim as well as accolades. It has already won three major National Film Awards, for Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Director. The film stars Ashutosh Gowariker in a pivotal role along with other leading Marathi actors, and the National Awards had naturally had the mother-daughter producer duo expressing their happiness that the film had made “such a positive impact.”

At Filmfare, Ventilator bagged 15 nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Male), Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male), Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female), Best Music Album, Best Lyrics, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Original Story, Best Screenplay, Best Dialogue, Best Editing, Best Background Score and Best Sound Design.