'Mukti Bhawan' gets standing ovation at Venice fest

Director Shubhashish Bhutiani, whose film "Mukti Bhawan" recently premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, is overjoyed as it received a 10-minute standing ovation from the audience.

After the film's screening on Friday, Bhutiani told IANS: "It's been great. I didn't think people would show up but we had three sold out shows. So, that's quite amazing for us.

"It was so unexpected because I thought it would be empty, but so many people came for it and the audience was so electric. They were laughing at the jokes, they were smiling and crying. We got a 10-minute standing ovation."

"For me, it was an emotional experience to show the film to the audience because they were the first audience to see it. It was a crazy surprise for me," he said.

Bhutiani has earlier directed a short film "Kush", but "Mukti Bhawan" is his first feature film.

Bhutiani says this film has the potential to touch the common man's heart and he will try to get a commercial release.

He said: "It's a film not made for festival audience per se. People all around the world can connect to this film and I am definitely looking for a commercial release. 'Mukti Bhawan' is emotional, funny and I feel it has the potential to touch the hearts of common people."

"There is nothing morbid about this film," he added.

"Mukti Bhawan" is a father-son story, rooted in India.

The film, set in Varanasi, stars Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni and Palomi Ghosh.

The story of the film was shortlisted in the top 10 from over 400 entries worldwide and has been developed by the La Biennale di Venezia.

--IANS

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