The awards are divided into four distinctive sections namely Feature Film Central Jury which includes films from all regions and which was this year headed by eminent filmmaker Priyadarshan. The Non-Feature which includes short films and documentaries from all state was chaired by Raju Misra. Third, Writing on Cinema which includes critiques and books by me and finally a new category called Film Friendly State which was given to Uttar Pradesh this year and headed by Madhur Bhandarkar. While the jury members had a lot of time to interact with each other, the chairpersons of the respective juries only met on the final day.
I got to spend some time with Raju Misra post the press conference announcing the awardees, Priyadarshan and I bonded over dinner at the hotel sharing films we must watch and had breakfast with Madhur Bhandarkar on the morning of the event. Come evening and we were dressed formally to read a citation each on what propelled us to make our choices and the guidelines we followed.
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