Some welcome news to help brighten what has been a tough few months -
my book The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee has been given the Book Award for
Excellence in Writing on Cinema (English) at the Mumbai Film Festival, MAMI.
In the pic below, I am with Arpita Das,
who has been doing a super job of curating this award, and two of the
jury members for the cinema writing prize, Ambarish Satwik and Ravi
Kant.
And here, courtesy Shubhodeep Pal, is a pic from the ceremony, the only one I have currently. (Should get a few others soon.)
As I said during my very brief acceptance speech, I'm very glad this award exists; and not just for the obvious reason, but because books on cinema tend to get short shrift at the more general literary awards, where other categories - such as politics, business, family histories - get taken more seriously.
Also letting myself get vaguely sentimental here: for all the good things about the prize (including the sense of recognition for a book that, irrespective of its final merits or flaws, represents a lot of hard work), the best by far was the look on my mother’s face when she heard the news. She has been in a lot of pain for months now, has been bearing it with incredible courage, and this was at least a temporary boost.
Meanwhile, please treat this as yet another plug for the book - pick it up yourself if it seems like something you'd be interested in, or spread the word.
And here, courtesy Shubhodeep Pal, is a pic from the ceremony, the only one I have currently. (Should get a few others soon.)
As I said during my very brief acceptance speech, I'm very glad this award exists; and not just for the obvious reason, but because books on cinema tend to get short shrift at the more general literary awards, where other categories - such as politics, business, family histories - get taken more seriously.
Also letting myself get vaguely sentimental here: for all the good things about the prize (including the sense of recognition for a book that, irrespective of its final merits or flaws, represents a lot of hard work), the best by far was the look on my mother’s face when she heard the news. She has been in a lot of pain for months now, has been bearing it with incredible courage, and this was at least a temporary boost.
Meanwhile, please treat this as yet another plug for the book - pick it up yourself if it seems like something you'd be interested in, or spread the word.
Congrats!! Well deserved.
ReplyDeleteYay, Jai!
ReplyDeleterichly deserved for a very good read. all the best to you and your mother!
ReplyDeleteKarma
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Jai! Picked up a copy, now to get to it...
ReplyDeleteSabbah, Mike, Sup, Leol: many thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnon: hmm?
congrats. is there a link for the other nominations and awards? just curious to see.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Jai!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jai! Hope we get to see you attending MAMI next year and writing about some of the films screened
ReplyDeleteDear Jai Sir,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the well-deserved award and wishing Maa ji a quick and speedy recovery!
Regards,
Mahesh
Congratulations !
ReplyDeleteThank you, everyone! Anon, one link is here. They got a little confused by the "special mention" awards though, and named those first because they were announced first at the ceremony.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jai Arjun Singh!
ReplyDeleteAs your blogs have been a reference point for years to gauge the merits of movies, I'm sure the award was well deserved! If the book was easily available in Canada, I'd get my hands on it too. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteAnd wishing a speedy recovery to your mom :)