Sunday
at
midnight,
at
the
10th
Olympia
International
Film
Festival
For
Children,
Santosh
Sivan's
much-acclaimed
Hindi
film
Tahaan,
about
the
relationship
between
a
little
boy
and
his
pet
donkey,
walked
away
with
several
major
awards
including
the
topmost
awards
for
Best
Feature
Film,
the
CIFEJ
(Centre
International
du
Film
pour
Les
Enfant
Et
La
Jeunesse)
award
and
the
UNICEF
award
for
Best
film.
"That
covers
the
entire
major
awards
in
the
films
category," said
an
excited
Sivan,
minutes
after
the
Olympia
awards
concluded
in
Greece.
Sadly,
little
Purav
Bhandare,
who
plays
the
main
part
in
Tahaan,
couldn't
be
in
Greece
for
the
awards
because
of
school
and
also
the
Festival's
apparent
inability
to
fund
Purav's
flight
to
the
Festival.
"What
makes
these
awards
special
is
the
fact
that
every
category
has
a
separate
set
of
jury
members,
so
it
was
basically
three
different
set
of
jury
members
giving
the
three
awards
to
Tahaan.
That
felt
good,"
says
Santosh
Sivan
who
has
a
lifelong
affinity
to
children
and
children's
films
beginning
with
Halo
and
Asoka
(remember
the
little
Sooraj
Balajee
stealing
scenes
from
Shahrukh
and
Kareena?)
and
the
film
on
AIDS
Prarambha.
All
these
had
sterling
performances
by
child
actors.
Laughs
Santosh,
"I
maybe
making
films
with
children
in
the
lead,
but
I'm
in
a
minority.
At
these
international
film
festivals
especially
Olympia
which
is
devoted
to
children's
cinema,
they
have
an
impression
that
a
lot
of
children's
films
are
being
made
in
India."
Santosh
was
excited
about
meeting
many
prospective
producers
at
Olympia
and
has
even
locked
in
for
a
project
with
a
Canadian
production
house.
Tahaan
gets
a
big
hand-up
because
of
the
triumph
at
Olympia.
"Tahaan
has
already
been
screened
and
appreciated
at
the
London,
Rome,
Pusan
and
now
the
Olympia
film
festivals,"
says
Santosh
excitedly.
Sad,
it
hardly
ran
in
the
country
of
its
origin.
Story first published: Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 10:18 [IST]