One of the biggest and most important film festivals, ‘Toronto International Film Festival’ has selected ‘The Disciple’ to be India’s official entry for 2020. Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane (known for Court, Six Strands), ‘The Disciple’ centres around the journey of Sharad Nerulkar, a common man who has dedicated and sacrificed everything to become an Indian classical singer.
The film is about his journey of assiduously following all the age-old traditions and discipline of all the renowned and long time masters along with his father and guru. The story picks up pace when the protagonist begins to wonder whether it is possible to strive for the eminence he was hoping for.
It took 4 whole years for the filmmaker to finish the film, half of that duration was spent on research to get even the littlest of the details right. The cast of the film features first-time actors, especially Aditya Modak who played the lead role.
‘The Disciple’ was also felicitated at the 2020 Venice Film Festival as it won the prestigious FIPRESCI award. It is the award given to the best filmmaker of all the world premiers of the films. It is presented by the jury of the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (FIPRESCI). It was also India’s only entry at the Venice Film Festival after 19 years since Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding got selected in 2001.
