Actor Victor Banerjee won two global awards in two days for his role as a priest, Father O’Hara, in the 2019 film, Josef - Born in Grace. The first was for Best Actor at the India International Film Festival of Boston on October 27; and the second, a day later, was best supporting actor, at the Ontario International Film Festival.
Josef - Born in Grace has made waves since its release in 2019. It was in the race for contention at the Oscars earlier this year.
In September, it won Best Set Design at the Madrid International Film Festival; and it also won a second award at the Ontario International Film Festival this week, when Sudheer Palsane was declared Best Cinematographer.
Directed by Susant Misra, Josef - Born in Grace is an adaptation of a short story titled Joseph, written by well-known Odia author Umakanta Mahapatra, father of the film producer Ashok Mahapatra.
Set in the foothills of the Himalaya, the plot unfolds gradually and elegantly over 20 years, between 1960 and 1980. Father O’Hara, a missionary doctor, serves the poor at a small local hospital, adopts an orphan named Josef and raises him with the help of his caretaker Maularam (Sudarshan Juyal).
O’Hara eventually sends Josef to Dehradun to finish school and take up vocational training as a cook. The young man (Subrat Dutta) returns a great cook, but an alcoholic.
{{/usCountry}}O’Hara eventually sends Josef to Dehradun to finish school and take up vocational training as a cook. The young man (Subrat Dutta) returns a great cook, but an alcoholic.
{{/usCountry}}The three very different journeys of these three characters — Fr O’Hara, Josef and Maularam — form the heart of the film. Made in Hindi, it was shot in Uttarakhand over a month in the summer of 2018.
“Even though I’m a priest in the film, it was not very difficult to develop a paternal bond with Josef, who’s like a son to my character,” said Banerjee over the phone from Mussoorie .
Banerjee also showered accolades on Dutta for his performance. “I must admit and confess that it was my co-actor’s intense and studied performance as Josef that acted as my inspiration. And it was Subrat who made my performance what it is.”
Banerjee’s four-decade-long stellar career fetched him three National Awards -- one for cinematography, one for directing and one as supporting actor -- a clutch of international awards and a BAFTA nomination.
He worked with legendary directors throughout his career — from Satyajit Ray (Shatranj Ke Khilari, Pikoo and Ghare-Baire) in the 1970s and ’80s to Shyam Benegal (Kalyug, 1981), Roman Polanski (Bitter Moon, 1992) and David Lean (A Passage to India, 1984).
His performance in Josef - Born in Grace enhances Misra’s slow-burn narrative but he directs the credit to the director. “It’s certainly not easy shooting in the hills, mainly because of the unstable weather. I was amazed at how calm he (Susant) was when he would shoot. He was always clear in his mind about what he wanted.”
The film is special to him, Banerjee added, because it allowed him to draw on his own experience of being nurtured by priests. “My character is modelled on the Irish Christian brothers, I studied under for 11 years in school at St Edmunds, Shillong,” he says. “They taught me how to act, how to sing. I derived my values from them. In a way, this award is because of them, and hence it is humbly dedicated to them.”