Irrfan Khan wins the Icon Award

Irrfan Khan was announced as the winner of a special Icon Award at the closing ceremony of the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF).

Irrfan, who is undergoing medical treatment in London, accepted the award privately after two of his films were screened at the festival this year Mostafa Sarwar Farooki’s Doob: No Bed of Roses and Anup Singh’s Song of Scorpions.

A second Icon Award,  went to actor Manoj Bajpayee who attended this year’s festival with his films Gali Guliyan and Love Sonia.

“Getting this award at this prestigious film festival, it definitely is a matter of privilege for me; also in London, the city I love the most,” said Bajpayee.

The Outstanding  Achievement Award went to Richa Chadha, who starred in this year’s opening night world premiere of Tabrez Noorani’s crossover Love Sonia.

“When you say Indian films, people assume it’s just Bollywood and that’s untrue. We have independent films, that survive the onslaught of the nexus, and festivals like LIFF help us in making the right noise back home, so these films stand a chance against the mainstream expensive spectacle films,” Chadha said.

The film festival, backed by the UK-based Bagri Foundation, is now in its ninth year as Europe’s largest platform for independent cinema from the Indian subcontinent. 

The annual Satyajit Ray Short Film Award worth GBP 1,000 went to the Indo-German co-production The Peanut Seller. 

LIFF programme director Cary Rajinder Sawhney said, “We are delighted that in spite of a UK heatwave and the football World Cup, the festival attracted so many film fans this year, both Indian and non-Indian, to our wonderful film theatres. 

He spoke about independent films  in India and the response of the audience , saying, “It shows there is a real thirst for this kind of independent cinema showing more real-life images of the India.”