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Real drama in reels

In India, documentary films haven't got the recognition they deserve. This is because of two main reasons. The big-budgeted and popular Bollywood movies do not allow documentary films to come forward and documentary filmmakers are not given a platform to showcase their talent. The best thing about documentaries is that they portray the real society and are not like highly fictional mainstream movies.

An average documentary is 15 minutes long as compared to a lengthy Bollywood film, which has a span of almost 3 hours. Mostly concentrating on development issues, minorities' problems and life and difficulties of the downtrodden, these short movies help us to understand the actual situation of the country. But documentaries are not always all-serious stuff. Some are also entertaining and adventurous but always with a message hidden in them.

To encourage young documentary filmmakers, Jahangirabad Media Institute in Uttar Pradesh organised the National Students' Video Film Festival where aspiring filmmakers from different institutions around the country participated. Conceptualised and directed by students, these films were awarded under different categories like Best Short Fiction Film, Best Long Fiction Film, Best Short Non-Fiction Film, Best Long Non-Fiction Film, Special Jury Award, Best Film on Communalism, Best Film on Marginalised Segment, Best Film on AIDS, Best Film on Women Empowerment and Special Appreciation Awards, etc. The award-winning documentaries took place in Delhi this past week. These awards winners are also going to be shown at St. Petersburg in Russia, besides the U.S., South Africa and Australia. Beyond Crusades directed by Fawad Hussain and Zoheb Alam, students of Aligarh Muslim Univerity, showcases the rage of a Muslim boy caused by the Gujarat riots. He plans to avenge the death of his people killed by the fanatics by placing a bomb in a crowded place. Eventually, he changes his mind and throws the explosive in a deserted place but sacrifices his life in the process. This thought-provoking 14-minute film in Hindi won the Best Long Fiction Film Award.

One Show Less in English, Bhet: The Gift in Marathi, Slice of Life in Malayalam and Sapera, the Snake Charmer in Hindi also won prizes at the festival.

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