Hari M Mohanan’s Invisible Wings has won the Best Short Film award in the Non-Fiction category at the 2018 Filmfare Short Film Awards. Made in 2015, the Malayalam documentary follows tea shop owner KR Vijayan from Kochi, who is a globe-trotter.
With little money but a heart full of dreams, Vijayan and his wife Mohana, at the time of filming, had travelled across India as well as to London, Venice and parts of Egypt, Switzerland, Malaysia and Jordan. Giving a sense of how he can afford to travel so frequently, Vijayan says, “All the people I have travelled with are millionaires. When they exchange 100 or 500 dollar notes, I will be exchanging five or 10 dollars.”
When Mohanan first came across Vijayan’s shop, he was regaled by the tea seller’s stories of travelling to Argentina. He soon began frequenting Vijayan’s shop, and after making the film, travelled across South India to screen the film on his laptop.
Juice, a tart and telling look at gender and family dynamics by Neeraj Ghaywan, has won the award in the fiction category. Shefali Shah was selected as best actress for her performance in Juice, while Jackie Shroff was named best actor for the ribald comedy Khujli.
The jury comprised Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Nikkhil Advani, Onir, Nitesh Tiwari, Shakun Batra and Karan Johar.