Tanya Maniktala has won the Best Actress Award for Rohin Raveendran’s Arifa, a chapter from Gubbara Entertainment and Azim Premji Foundation’s Kashmir anthology Muhabbat Se, at the inaugural International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir.
Arifa premiered at the festival on September 8 and its lead performance was recognised with the Best Actor award for the luminous Tanya Maniktala.
Arifa is part of the Kashmir trilogy – Muhabbat Se, Gubbara Entertainment’s three-film Kashmir anthology directed by Rohin Raveendran, Durgesh Singh and Palash Vaswani. The anthology tells stories from Kashmir that look beyond conventional narratives. Instead they explore the human experiences, relationships and emotions that connect people to the region.
For Dimpy Agarwal, Founder, Gubbara Entertainment, the recognition is particularly meaningful. “Arifa is a very special chapter of our film Muhabbat Se. A screening of the film in Kashmir, at this historic event before the film releases in theatres in October is the universe’s magic wand at play. Muhabbat Se is our love letter to the valley. Arifa winning in its hometown, to me, means our love has been received.”
Director Rohin Raveendran said, “At the centre of our short film ARIFA is an arduous emotional journey in search of answers to questions that have long remained unspoken. Making ARIFA was, in many ways, an exploration of these silences and the weight they can carry over time. At its heart, the film is about forgiveness and finding peace before it is too late. I hope the film leaves audiences with a sense of that emotional journey, and perhaps makes them think about the words they have left unspoken in their own lives.”
The award is like a booster shot for Arifa as it heads towards an October release in theatres.
