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National Awards 2019: Bengali directors Srijit Mukherjee, Sagnik Chatterjee react to their wins

Kolkata: Seasoned director Srijit Mukherji and young Sagnik Chatterjee expressed happiness on Friday after their works won National Film Awards for the year 2018.

Mukherje’s Ek Je Chhilo Raja (There was a king) got the award for the Best Bengali film, while Chatterjee’s Feluda – 50 Years of Ray’s Detective has won for the coveted award in the category of Best Debut Non-Feature Film.

Feluda is a popular fictional detective created by film-maker and author Satyajit Ray.

“It is an excellent feeling. I am dedicating this honour to Feluda fans, my technicians, my teacher Yogesh Mathur, Sandip Ray & Lolita Ray,” he told PTI.

Sandip and Lolita Ray are Satyajit Ray’s son and daughter-in-law.

Chatterjee also shared similar views in a Facebook post.

Mukherji was also delighted to get the award for the third time.

“After Jaatishwar and Chotuskone, this is my third film which got the national award,” he said.

Ek Je Chhilo Raja was based on the sensational court case of Bhawal prince in erstwhile East Bengal around a century ago.

Thanking his team for the honour, he said, “I would also like to mention Jisshu Sengupta’s role, his performance in the film which also I thought was particularly award-worthy and also Somnath Kundu’s make up.

“So it is a triumph for the entire team. Hopefully we will keep doing good work for years to come”, Mukherji said.