August 4, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Amit Rai, the director and writer of the movie Road To Sangam has been honored with the “Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Award’ for 2009. He received the award for his excellence in directing Road To Sangam, which stars veteran actors Paresh Rawal, Om Puri and Pawan Malhotra.

According to a release from the Gollapudi Memorial Foundation, “There were 15 other nominated films from all over the country in languages like Hindi, English, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Malayalam. Beating all these, Ami Rai bagged the award in the director category.”

The esteemed award consists of a memento and a whopping cash prize of Rs 1.50 lakh. Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor will present the award to Amit Rai on 12th August at a function in Chennai.

On Tuesday, the jurists said that Amit Rai won the award because of his attention to detail, combination of original plot and the viewing pleasure of the film Road To Sangam.

The release added that the function will be attended crème de la crème including Bollywood actress Vidya Balan, Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and renowned director Madhur Bhandarkar. Veteran artist Girish Karnad will also be present at the event and would deliver a memorial lecture on “Mythology on Celluloid’.

Chairman of the jury, veteran director Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, said, “The movie tells a superb tale of a Muslim Mechanic, who was entrusted with the job of repairing a Ford Vehicle. This vehicle was once used to carry the ashes of the “father of nation’ Mahatma Gandhi. He repairs the vehicle even when a strike is called by the members of his community. Till date, no one has tried his hand in such kind of off-beat topic. The movie is highly relevant to the contemporary age as it makes the audience realize the values of Gandhiji and sends a strong message to them about the importance of the values in today’s life.”

Actor and writer Gollapudi Maruthi Rao instituted this award along with his family. This was created to commemorate his son Srinivas, who was killed in an accident while shooting for his debut movie in 1992.

– Sampurn Wire