Bollywood star-actors Pallavi Sharda (‘Besharam’)and Kirti Kulhari (‘Pink’) had a pretty tough time ‘judging’ a string of nine sensitive, hard-hitting short films dedicated to ‘Women’s Safety and Empowerment’, at the fest finale event co-hosted by the US Consulate with WIFT-India.
Clad in elegant ethnic attire, the actors were seen conversing with the debonair US Consul General Tom Vajda. Articulate Pallavi who has been shooting for ‘Begum Jaan’ where she plays the intense role of a ‘ sex-worker’, stressed in her husky drawl , that “education and awareness combined with a collective effort would make a huge difference”. Aggrieved Indian ‘survivor’ girls, she felt should no longer ‘shush’ the injustice meted out to them. Instead they should stand up for what they believed in and eliminate gender inequality. Meanwhile, the outspoken Kirti who is shooting for Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Indu Sarkar’ based on the ‘1975 Emergency’ and is a huge fan of iconic Hollywood actress Meryl Streep, was all praise for the ‘courageous passion’ of the youngster film-makers .
“While shooting for and post-release ‘Pink’, it had hit me hard, making me realize that these exploitation issues ‘should not be taken for granted, as part of ‘growing up’ but explicitly expressed and exposed,” insists ‘versatile’ Kirti who confides that she would love to be romantically paired opposite Ranbir Kapoor. As expected, A Broken Toy, by Shivam Sharma, merited the first prize and popular acclaim, while A Girl’s Story was adjudged second and the third prize was bagged by Unmasked (Team Sophia College) even as ‘director’ Ananda Mukerjei was recognized for her Inaya.