It's a big day for the team. Gulmohar. Directed by Rahul V. Chitella, the film won the Best Hindi Film Award at the 70th Hindi Film Festival. National Film AwardsThe announcement ceremony took place on Friday. Gulmohar also received a Special Mention and was recognised for Best Screenplay. Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore, who made her OTT debut with Gulmohar, spoke to NDTV and shared her joy. She said, “Thank you so much. We did not expect this. I am absolutely over the moon. It is so well deserved. Rahul V Chittella is a debut director. The film has had such a wonderful journey because all the audiences have responded… And then, many, many awards from all forums. Obviously, the National Award is the cherry on the cake. And I am absolutely thrilled about it… Manoj [Bajpayee] is also getting a special edition. I think it's wonderful and I'm so happy for Rahul and for all of us.” Gulmohar marks veteran actress Sharmila Tagore's third National Film Award. She had earlier won the National Film Award for Mausam (1976)And Abar Aranye (2003).
Gulmohar was released directly on the OTT platform Disney Plus Hotstar. During an interview, Sharmila Tagore was asked if she thought OTT would be a game changer for films. She said, “Watch a film, it’s a film and you can’t differentiate between the two. Obviously, it’s great to watch it on the big screen… There’s no comparison. There’s a huge difference between the small screen and the big screen. If we had thought of releasing it in theatres instead of OTT, I think it would have been great. But at that time, we didn’t know, the producers didn’t know that it would be a success. And a film is a film, as I said. Ladies of Laapataa was released on the big screen and I am sure it would have been great if it was released on OTT as well. So Gulmohar just happened to be on OTT. Let's not compare. OTT had a bigger appetite for our type of films.”
Speaking to news agency ANI after the big win, Manoj Bajpayee said, “It is a huge achievement for the entire team and the director, whose first film has won three National Awards.”