President awards documentary on deaf athlete's fight against sports politics

Prateek Gupta receiving award from the President

By A Representative
President Pranav Kumar Mukherjee has conferred the Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) and a Certifiacte of Excellence to the three directors and the producer for their documentary film, "Goonga Pahelwan", which the jury of the 62nd National Film Awards said, has championed the cause of a deaf athlete, with a a pointed question on how politics impedes "this capable athlete's route to the Rio Olympics."
"Goonga Pehelwan" is a biopic documentary on Virender Singh, India's most successful deaf athlete, of his grit, fierce dedication and hope. The film has come at a time when Virender is gearing up for his third appearance in Bulgaria. It delves into his life from the bylanes of a small village of Haryana to his dream to make it to the Rio Olympics 2016.
"Through the prism of the hardships that Virender endured in this journey, this film makes an effort to bring the policy-level change in the way disabled athletes are treated in India", said a statement by the film's producer, who is attached with an Ahmedabad-based NGO, Drishti Media Arts for Human Rights.The producer and each of the directors were awarded a cash prize of Rs 75,000.

Virender Kumar (extreme left) with the three directors

"Goonga Pehelwan" is a film made by Mit Jani, Prateek Gupta and Vivek Chaudhary, the three directors, with produced by Drishti Media Arts for Human Rights. It was awarded in the category of,' Best Debut Film of a Director' in the 'Non-Feature Films' section.
A chartered accountant by qualification, Jani was involved in film-making and theatre during his college days. Gupta has been inclined towards the visual arts since his teenage years and remained so even after getting a degree in chartered accountancy. And Chaudhary is an alumnus of the Faculty of Management Studies.
The producer, Drishti Media Arts for Human Rights, is a development communication organization that uses arts and communication tools to cultivate awareness of human rights and grassroots-level development in India through training, producing films and audio for strategic communication planning. Drishti was founded in 1993.

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