"Dev Bhoomi" causes stir
“Dev Bhoomi” (Land of the Gods), a feature film by noted Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic and starring Indian actor Victor Banerjee in lead role in a story portraying gender inequality and cast divides, has been adjudged the best film in the International Panorama competition at the Bari Film Festival in Italy.
Set in a village in the Garhwal Himalayas, the film revolves around Rahul Negi (played by Victor) who returns from exile in England to his village after four decades, which sets off commotion among the villagers who have never forgiven him for his “sins” in the past.
Beside Victor who has also co-authored the script of the film with the director, there is a strong India connect to the cast of the “Land of the Gods” with Geetanjali Thapa and Uttara Baokar in it.
The award citation of the film, which has dialogues in Hindi, Garhwali and English and is entirely shot in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, commends the director for a high quality cinematic tale.” The Bari International Film Festival was held from April 22-29.
In its review of the film, the Hollywood Reporter praises Victor as “convincing here as an English-bred sophisticate whose perception of the sacred is probably no longer that of his compatriots.”
A director of 16 feature films, Paskaljevic's “The Powder Keg”(1998) is his most acclaimed movie winning a number of awards including the International Critics Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
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