Amazon Prime Video wins big at Indian Film Festival

Amazon Prime Video wins big at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2021, Manoj , Samantha, Suriya React

Manoj Bajpayee gets “Best Performance in a web series” (Male) for his phenomenal performance as Srikant Tiwari in Amazon Original Series – The Family Man, Samantha Akkineni bags “Best Performance in a web series” (Female) for her role – Raji

The Malayalam family drama, The Great Kitchen on Amazon Prime Video has won the recognition for Equality in Cinema

Amazon Prime Video scoops a massive win at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2021 which has announced its winners for the year. While India’s most loved hinterland crime drama Mirzapur Season 2 has won in the category for ‘Best Web Series’, Suriya Sivakumar and Vidya Balan have bagged the honors for Best Performances in leading roles for their stellar performances in Soorarai Pottru and Sherni ,respectively. Post a stupendously successful second season, The Family Man ‘Manoj Bajpayee won g the award for ‘Best Actor (Male) in a web series’. Marking her digital debut with this espionage thriller, Samantha Akkineni who enthralled the audiences with her dark and intense portrayal of the ultimate nemesis has also won the award for ‘Best Actor (Female) in a web series’. In addition to this, Malayalam family drama, The Great Kitchen has earned the recognition for in the category of ‘Equality in Cinema (Feature)’.

Sharing his excitement on the win, Puneet Krishna, Creator, Mirzapur Season 2 said “I am thrilled beyond words for Mirzapur’s win at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. As a creator for Mirzapur, the series is extremely close to my heart. It has been an incredible experience to unfold the riveting universe of Mirzapur to audiences worldwide replete with the most distinct characters, each of whom have unique nuances to portray. In the second season, we widened the canvas, made it grittier and fiercer whilst upping the ante and weaving in more characters into the narrative. And it has surely worked in our favour. This recognition at a prestigious platform like Film Festival of Melbourne is reflective of the popularity of Mirzapur and its standing amongst the audience. I am thankful to Excel Entertainment and Amazon Prime Video for giving me this opportunity.”

On being awarded the Best Performance (Female), an elated Vidya Balan remarked, “I am thrilled at receiving this award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Sherni has been special for me not only for the character I got to play but because it delved into a space, lesser explored in cinema. It’s a relevant subject that needed to be told. This award is for my team.I am also thankful to the audience for all the love and this award is the icing on the cake.”

On Soorarai Pottru’s big win, lead actor and producer of the film Suriya said “It’s double the celebration for us with Soorarai Pottru winning the award for Best Film at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and the Best Actor award being bestowed on me. This film has been made with a lot of heart and to finally witness it getting recognized at a global platform is heartwarming and incredibly special. It’s a huge honour for us as a team and I am thankful to Amazon Prime Video for making the film reach audiences globally and my fans for showering so much love.”

Commenting on his win as the Best Actor in a Web Series (Male), Manoj Bajpayee said “I am superbly excited and humbled for the win at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. As a character, Srikant Tiwari’s sense of conflict was his biggest highlight and it enabled me to explore the finer nuances of humour, drama, thrill, all rolled into one. I will always be short of words to describe the adulation The Family Man has garnered world over and this award just scales up the honour further. As an artist, I am inspired and motivated to do better with every role that comes my way hereon and stay true to my craft.”

On being awarded Best Actor in a Web Series (Female), Samantha Akkineni said, “I am absolutely elated to receive this award. It was a dream come true for me to make a digital debut on Amazon Prime Video in The Family Man, which has captivated audiences worldwide with its gripping storyline and edge-of-the-seat thrill.  “Raji” was one of the most layered and intense roles of my career that called for a lot of preparation and forced me to dig deep. I am thankful to Raj & DK for conceiving such a powerful female character and for being able to see me beyond the ‘cute girl’ image that many couldn’t look past. I am grateful to the jury at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne for this honour and I look forward to more of such groundbreaking roles as an actor.”