After garnering accolades for their movies at Award Functions and Film festivals across the world, UTV’s films A Wednesday!, Dev.D and Mumbai Meri Jaan have earned the merit of being three of the five Indian films to be nominated at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, among other films across 16 nations, in all.

India has received three nominations at the coveted awards this year with Anurag Kashyap being nominated for the ‘ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION’ category for Dev.D, Yogesh Vinayak Joshi and Upendra Sidhaye for the ‘BEST SCREENPLAY’ (Mumbai Meri Jaan) and Naseeruddin Shah for ‘BEST PERFORMANCE BY ACTOR’ (A Wednesday!).

Commenting on the occasion Vikas Bahl, Chief Creative Officer, UTV Motion Pictures said, “Great stories break the language barrier and bring cultures together. At UTV to identify such stories and bring them alive is our passion and I am glad its reaping results. We need to constantly push the creative benchmarks and find our footing on the world platform and this is just the beginning.”

APSA is a unique collaboration between CNN International, UNESCO and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations wherein films are judged on cinematic excellence and the way in which they attest to their cultural origins. Winners of the region’s highest accolade in film will be announced by the international jury on November 26 at the third annual APSA Ceremony on Australia’s Gold Coast.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards has announced nominees in nine award categories from across various countries like Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Palestinian Territories, People’s Republic of China (Mainland China/Hong Kong), Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey.

Many of UTV Motion Pictures’ critically and commercially successful titles have won accolades at various Award functions. At the 54th Idea Filmfare Awards, UTV Motion Pictures won an unprecedented 14 awards across its movies- Jodhaa Akbar, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Mumbai Meri Jaan and Fashion, for top honors like Best Actor, Best Film, Best Director, Best Lyrics and Best Background Score. Jodhaa Akbar bagged 11 awards out of 13 nominations at the IIFA Awards 2009, with UTV Motion Pictures winning a total of 18 for the aforementioned film, A Wednesday! and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. At the in Nokia 15th Annual Star Screen Awards 2008, UTV Motion Pictures swept 47 Nominations for their home productions.

Internationally, UTV Motion Pictures’ films have also travelled the festival circuit, with movies like Delh-6, Jodhaa Akbar, A Wednesday!, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Mumbai Meri Jaan and Fashion having been screened at many prestigious Film Festivals such as the Taormina Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, South Asian Film Festival, Moscow International Film festival, the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PIFFF), Indo-American Arts Council’s 9th Annual MIAAC Film Festival and at the Museum of Modern Arts.

-Sampurn Media