The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne had its awards night yesterday. Sanju, which won the best film, with leading man Ranbir Kapoor bagging the Vanguard award, had a special screening at the La Trobe University in Melbourne which was followed by a rather interesting Q&A with director Rajkumar Hirani and writer Abhijat Joshi.

When asked why he made a biopic on Sanjay Dutt, Hirani replied “We were actually writing Munnabhai immediately after PK when we happened to meet Sanju. He was out on parole and we met at his place when he started venting out; things that were bottled up. He just didn't care who he spoke to. He had to get it out. I always had a professional relationship with Sanju, but that was one long evening. He has told us things about his life, things that I didn't know and I thought, that's a wonderful story.”

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Siddhartha, starring the late Shashi Kapoor and Simi Garewal, gave a tribute to her co-star and dear friend at the screening. Held at HOYTS, the evening brought in an eager crowd of cinephiles who wanted to watch this 1972 classic and get a feel of true cinema.

Simi reminisced, “Shashi was my friend and fellow actor and it is very common in India to praise someone after they've gone but I have always said this, Shashi Kapoor was the perfect Co-star. You don’t want someone to interfere; you want someone to support you when you’re acting. You want someone well behaved, punctual, who is polite and courteous with everyone and he was exactly like that. He was very professional and he had no ego at all he would shake hands with everyone from the lighting technician to others. He was amazing that way and I don’t know another actor in the world who would work in commercial cinema earn money from there and take it and put it into meaningful films like Kalyug, 36 Chowringhee Lane etc. But he had a passion for real cinema and he put his money where his mouth was. He started the parallel cinema. We never had it before.”

Day 4 of the Indian Film Festival closed on a positive and hopeful note, chronicling Sanju as a true film for the masses and Siddhartha as a film for every generation. The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne will continue holding screenings of wonderful films from all across India and the subcontinent till August 22, ensuring the Australian audiences revel in the truest sense of cinema.