National award-winning actor Tannishta Chatterjee and J.D Chakravarthy of the Satya fame won the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor at Eko International Film Festival, Nigeria for the Hindi feature film Dahini-The Witch directed by internationally acclaimed national award- winning filmmaker Rajesh Touchriver and produced by Padma Shri Awardee Sunitha Krishnan.
Telugu pride J.D. Chakravarthi who has made a mark in Indian film industry by his versatile acting has one more feather in his cap with this international award which is a first for him. His powerful portrayal of Pratap Babu a social activist fighting to end witch-hunting was appreciated by the esteemed jury. J.D. has acted in over 80 films in many Indian languages including Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi and has won Screen Award and Nandi Award. This is his first international award and shares the stage with internationally celebrated actors Wole Ojo and Shaffy Bello.
‘This award is a humbling experience for me as an actor. To be judged with the best of international cinema and to win an award is no small accomplishment and I want to thank my director Rajesh Touchriver for giving me an opportunity and bringing the best out of me’ shared Chakravarthy.
Dahini-The Witch’ is a powerful social thriller on witch-hunting which has already won 13 international awards and over 10 official selections. The film directed by national award-winning director Rajesh Touchriver is produced by Padma Shri Awardee Sunitha Krishnan. The film is a compelling social thriller that exposes the crude reality of witch-hunting which is still practiced in more than 17 states in India. Touching a very bold subject of witch-hunting, the internationally acclaimed director once again brings forth a human rights concern that plagues many nations including India. As one of the worst forms of gender-based violence witch-hunting has been used to slaughter thousands of women who do not conform to normal gender norms or to settle inter-personal disputes.
Shot completely in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha where witch-hunting is rampant, the feature film is first of its kind focusing on this taboo subject.
The film boasts of a talented ensemble cast including Ashique Hussain, Badrul Islam, Angana Roy, Riju Bajaj, Jagannath Seth, Sruthy Jayan and Dilip Das.
An award-winning technical crew with cinematographer Noushad Shereef, production designer Sunil Babu, sound designer Ajith Abraham George, background score George Joseph, editing Sasi Kumar and make-up design NG Roshan complete the film.
The film is produced under the banner of Ramleela Productions and SunTouch Productions.
