Courtesy:
IndiaFM
Wednesday,
July
25,
2007
Debutant
Director
Kaushik
Roy
has
won
the
'German
Star
of
India'
award
for
his
film
Apna
Asmaan
at
the
Stuttgart
Bollywood
and
Beyond
Film
Festival.
The
Irrfan
Khan-Shobana
starrer
was
screened
at
the
festival
on
July
14
and
was
selected
from
eight
other
movies
short-listed
for
this
award,
which
included
Bheja
Fry
by
Sagar
Ballary,
Manhattan
Biryani
by
James
Edward
Duff
and
Anuranan
by
Aniruddha
Roy
Chowdhury
amongst
others.
The
awards
were
announced
at
a
ceremony
held
on
Sunday
evening.
Delighted
with
this
development,
Mr.
Kaushik
Roy
who
was
there
for
the
screening
exclaims,
"My
first
film,
my
first
Festival,
my
first
award.
I
am
very
encouraged
and
going
by
the
theatrical
success
of
last
year's
winner
here
(Mixed
Doubles),
I'm
very
optimistic
that
Apna
Asmaan
will
do
very
well."
Co
-
produced
by
Umang
Pahwa,
under
the
ImaginationWorks
banner,
Apna
Asmaan
boasts
of
a
stalwart
cast,
with
Irrfan
Khan,
Anupam
Kher,
Rajat
Kapoor
and
South
veteran
actor
Shobana.
The
film
is
about
a
teenager's
journey
to
be
loved
and
admired
for
what
he
is
rather
then
what
his
parents
want
him
to
be.
Apna
Asmaan
takes
this
story
line
and
gives
it
the
sensibility
of
an
urban
thriller,
making
it
an
entertaining
yet
thought-provoking
film
about
parents
and
their
demands
of
their
children.
The
Annual
Stuttgart
Festival
selects
and
screens
a
mixture
of
mainstream
and
art-house
cinema
from
across
the
world.
Apna
Asmaan
was
also
screened
at
the
Cannes
Film
Market
in
May
2007.