Quirky Manipuri coming-of-age comedy-drama ‘Boong', produced by Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment, won the prestigious BAFTA Award for Best Children's & Family Film in London on Sunday.
The film's debutant director, Lakshmipriya Devi, made an emotional plea for peace in her acceptance speech after receiving the coveted trophy from Paddington Bear, the lead character starring in the West End show ‘Paddington The Musical'. She was joined on stage by producers Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani and the assistant director of ‘Boong', Rahul Sharda.
“The walk up till here felt like the last few steps to reach a summit of a mountain we never knew we were climbing in the first place," said Devi.
“Just want to use this opportunity to say that we pray for peace to return to Manipur, we pray that all the internally displaced children, including the child actors in the film, regain their joy, their innocence and their dream once again.
“We pray that no conflict is ever formidable enough to destroy the one superpower that all of us have as human beings, that is forgiveness. So, thank you BAFTA for giving us not only an award but this stage to express our hope," she said.
The Manipuri film, starring Gugun Kipgen and Bala Hijam, beat international competition from other nominees ‘Lilo and Stitch', ‘Arco' and ‘Zootropolis 2'.
The star-studded 2026 British Academy Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, held at the Royal Festival Hall by the river Thames, included Bollywood star Alia Bhatt as a celebrity guest presenter for the Best Film not in the English Language trophy for Nordic drama ‘Sentimental Value'. She opened with "Namaste” and after a few Hindi words, switched to English to note that “while film speaks in countless voices, what we always celebrate is the language of cinema”.
Earlier at the awards red carpet, Bhatt, dressed in a glittering Gucci gown, said: “I feel most myself in front of the camera. I love my job so deeply. But I have to say that my true source of inspiration and magic right now is my daughter. She's three now and watching her dancing to my songs sometimes, I'm like ‘that is life'.
“One of the things I love about cinema is that you don't have to have one language to truly enjoy cinema. You don't have to understand the language because what truly drives it is just emotion and that feeling that sort of pulses out at you through the big screen... tonight is all about the love of the movies.”
Leonardo Di Caprio-starrer ‘One Battle After Another' led the big wins for the night with six trophies. BAFTA president Prince William and wife Kate Middleton were among the chief guests, with the Prince of Wales presenting this year's BAFTA Fellowship to Dame Donna Langley – Chairman of NBC Universal Entertainment.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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