Amit
Rai,
the
director
and
writer
of
the
movie
Road
To
Sangam
has
been
honored
with
the
'Gollapudi
Srinivas
Memorial
Award" for
2009.
He
received
the
award
for
his
excellence
in
directing
Road
To
Sangam,
which
stars
veteran
actors
Paresh
Rawal,
Om
Puri
and
Pawan
Malhotra.
According
to
a
release
from
the
Gollapudi
Memorial
Foundation,
“There
were
15
other
nominated
films
from
all
over
the
country
in
languages
like
Hindi,
English,
Bengali,
Tamil,
Telugu,
Marathi
and
Malayalam.
Beating
all
these,
Amit
Rai
bagged
the
award
in
the
director
category."
The
esteemed
award
consists
of
a
memento
and
a
whopping
cash
prize
of
Rs
1.50
lakh.
Bollywood
actor
Anil
Kapoor
will
present
the
award
to
Amit
Rai
on
12th
August
at
a
function
in
Chennai.
On
Tuesday,
the
jurists
said
that
Amit
Rai
won
the
award
because
of
his
attention
to
detail,
combination
of
original
plot
and
the
viewing
pleasure
of
the
film
Road
To
Sangam.
The
release
added
that
the
function
will
be
attended
crème
de
la
crème
including
Bollywood
actress
Vidya
Balan,
Sarod
maestro
Amjad
Ali
Khan
and
renowned
director
Madhur
Bhandarkar.
Veteran
artist
Girish
Karnad
will
also
be
present
at
the
event
and
would
deliver
a
memorial
lecture
on
'Mythology
on
Celluloid".
Chairman
of
the
jury,
veteran
director
Singeetam
Srinivasa
Rao,
said,
“The
movie
tells
a
superb
tale
of
a
Muslim
Mechanic,
who
was
entrusted
with
the
job
of
repairing
a
Ford
Vehicle.
This
vehicle
was
once
used
to
carry
the
ashes
of
the
'father
of
nation" Mahatma
Gandhi.
He
repairs
the
vehicle
even
when
a
strike
is
called
by
the
members
of
his
community.
Till
date,
no
one
has
tried
his
hand
in
such
kind
of
off-beat
topic.
The
movie
is
highly
relevant
to
the
contemporary
age
as
it
makes
the
audience
realize
the
values
of
Gandhiji
and
sends
a
strong
message
to
them
about
the
importance
of
the
values
in
today"s
life."
Actor
and
writer
Gollapudi
Maruthi
Rao
instituted
this
award
along
with
his
family.
This
was
created
to
commemorate
his
son
Srinivas,
who
was
killed
in
an
accident
while
shooting
for
his
debut
movie
in
1992.