Manoj Bajpayee has created history again by becoming the first Indian actor to win Best Actor at the Durban Film Festival for his nervewracking performance in director Devashish Makhija’s Joram.Cinematographer Piyush Puty was also honoured at Durban for his efforts.
Responding to the double honour, Makhija says, “Joram was a collective effort to make a film that would hopefully affect and move fellow Indians as much as it would an international audience. Our Durban wins give us hope that perhaps we may just have achieved that.”
Manoj Bajpai and Makhija have earlier collaborated on two other notable films Taandav and Bhosle. Both were highly acclaimed, and with sterling performances by Bajpayee.
Says Makhija, “Joram is our hattrick. Manoj can become any thing I wish to turn him into. And he shows immense faith in me. The combination of these two factors might be what manifests in our work together.”
When I compare Makhija and Manoj to Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro, Makhija protests, “No no please.Neither.We are we. Scorsese and de Niro is a forty-year partnership.There can be no comparisons between the two partnerships.”
Joram is produced by Zee Studios who are gearing up to release the film after their big-ticket film Gadar 2 is out.
