K Vaikunth, is one of the few Goans who made it to the pinnacle of their chosen field, in the Hindi film industry. A cinematographer of repute, he shot many successful films and was honoured for his photography, for the super-hit movie, ‘Seeta aur Geeta’ (1973). In a career running from 1956 to 1990, Vaikunth worked with well-known directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Ramesh Sippy, Gulzar, Manmohan Desai, Ramanand Saga,r and Ravindra Dave.
As a part of the birth centenary celebrations of this iconic cinematographer, Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, in association with the Department of Information and Publicity organised an annual international short film competition. Renowned actress and Member of Parliament, Hema Malini, who had worked with K. Vaikunth in films like ‘Andaaz’, ‘Seeta aur Geeta’, ‘Khushboo’, ‘Meera’, and ‘Baghavat’ will attend the prize distribution ceremony of the first Cinematographer K Vaikunth State and National/ International Short Film Competition, and share her memories about the Goan lensman. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the PWD minister Digambar Kamat will also grace the occasion.
The ceremony will be held at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, on September 7, at 5 p. m, followed by the screening of award-winning short films. The winners will receive a special trophy and cash prizes starting from Rs 2 lakh downwards. The winners will be announced during the ceremony.
The short film competition had received overwhelming response with 930 entries from 72 countries including Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, France, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Sri Lanka, U.A.E., U.K., U.S. and Uzbekistan. The awards will be presented for the best state level short films as well as best national/ international level short films, in different categories such as Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematographer, Best Editor and so on.
The jury members for first round of the competition included Deep Sawant (cinematographer), Manoj Kadam (film director) and Sarvesh Parab (film editor), while for the second round the jury members were Umesh Kulkarni (film director), Ashmakhi Acharya (film director), and Hari Nayar (cinematographer). The short film competition will be held annually to bring out the talent and give boost to the filmmakers from Goa, India and other countries.
The programme is open for the general public.
