Om Raut: Winning the National Film Award gives you energy to take it to a different level

Filmmaker Om Raut opens up about clinching his first National Film Award for his historical film, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior

Filmmaker Om Raut was busy working on his next project when he got a call to congratulate him for winning a National Film Award for his historical film, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, and he has not stopped smiling since then.

Om Raut’s Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior won three awards at the 68th National Film Awards

The director says getting the national honour not only validates their efforts in making the ambitious project on the life of Maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare, but also infuses energy to outdo the expectations.

The 2020 film has bagged three awards -- Best Actor Award, Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Costume Design.

“I am all over the place. I was working on Adipurush with my team when I got to know that we have won. It is such happy news. First one is always special. My grandfather is a national award winner, my mother is also a national award winner for documentary filmmaking, not for feature,” Raut tells us, adding, “It’s my first award, but I am not the first one in the family to get it”.

For him, the honour is extremely important as it is a nod to the team’s effort in making the film. “It was a very big film. We got good box office success, but when we actually started with it, it was quite madness. Ajay Devgn has been so supportive in every aspect of the film…When I narrated the film to him, he said he will not only act but also back it,” says the director.

Having a good run at the box office is a great result, but according to Raut, “winning the national honour is very important because it gives you more energy to take it to a different level”.

“The same team is working on Adipurush. The energy is catapulted after the honour,” says the director, who made his directorial debut with a Marathi film Lokmanya Ek Yugpurush in 2015.

The acknowledgment doesn’t bring any pressure, but encouragement. He asserts, “It is way more encouraging. Now, we have great enthusiasm while working on our next project”.

This year, the National Film Awards were dominated by myriad hues of regional cinema. For Raut, the honours always came with great representation of Indian cinema.

“There is no particular language or image or cinema attached to the National Film Awards. In the past as well, it has come with great representation for cinema across the nation. It is not something new that has happened now, they are called National awards for a reason,” he stresses.

Opening up about his thoughts, the director shares, “I don’t think cinema can be divided by any boundaries, or language. You can’t break it down in any thing or language. What is most important is what’s the cinema that we are making, and the story we are telling”.

“My first film was in Marathi, my second film was in Hindi and third is in Hindi and Telugu. Tomorrow, I might make a film in some other language… You never know. What is important is the story you want to tell.. Language doesn’t matter,” he ends.