Ashutosh Gowariker,Kunal Kolhi, Anupama Chopra Makrand Deshpande, Nikkhil Taneja, Shalmili Kholgade, Prahlad Kakkar present at the Second Day At India Film Project and Award Night

Film Enthusiasts from 292 cities and 18 countries cheer at the award ceremony of India Film Project

Mumbai wins the most awards across India's First Digital Awards for web videos and

50 hours of film-making Awards Night at India Film Project

followed by Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore, Karachi, among others..

Talk Shop with Ashutosh Gowariker touches on his journey in film-making

~ Ashutosh Gowariker, Kunal Kohli, Anupama Chopra, Nikkhil Advani, Makarand Deshpande, Pralhad Kakkar, Youtubers Prajakta Koli & Carryminati, Shalmali Kholgade and many more in

conversation on Day 2 of the India Film Project ~

Mumbai, October 1, 2017: "I don't have intellectual arrogance..I am only a curious guy” said Ashutosh Gowariker addressing the crowd that gathered from across 292 cities and 18 countries at the India Film Project . The concluding day of the festival saw audience hearing from one of the most respected director from Bollywood on his journey in the film industry and film-making.

Encouraging the new talent house in the audience, Ashutosh said “..for filmmakers, the last years have been great times to present with niche stories and good access to funding, having people who will back you..”

He admired the concept curated by Ritam Bhatnagar for Indian Film Project that recognizes film-making talents across wide platforms and he himself would love to make web series or explore new forms for storytelling in future.

What followed after was the most awaited award ceremony of the seventh edition of India Film Project. The crowd cheered and applauded when their teams and cities won in the 50 hours of film-making awards which had 1503 films competing for each other in various categories. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury congratulated all the film makers and presented the trophies to all the winners of the evening.

Day 1 of the festival witnessed India's First Digital Awards for web videos where more than 5500 videos competed each other across seven categories. Mumbai bagged most of the awards across India's First Digital Awards for web videos and 50 hours of film-making Awards Night at India Film Project followed by Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore, Karachi, among others.

During the day, the festival also touched down on discussions ranging from content for OTT platforms like web, virtual reality, brand creation, Digital community and many more. Various personalities like Kunal Kohli,Makarand Deshpande, Prahlad Kakkar, Youtubers Prajakta Koli & Carryminati, Shalmali Kholgade among others.

Jury of the Awards Night included Ram Madhvani, Vipul Shah and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury who chose winners across three categories. Announcing in the first category Mobile, platinum winners were Footsteps (CreatEwitty Media Notions - Nagpur ) followed by Bas Paanch Minute (Fikar Not Films - Rajkot) and Tanabata (Plot Point Films - Pune) in the second and third spots respectively follwed by Reminiscence (Pixel Garden - Mumbai) at fourth.

The winner of the Amateur category is Karma from a production house Radiant Studios from Vellore, Tamil Nadu followed by all runners up from Maharashtra - Memento Mori (Broken Tripod Films - Pune), Lifeline (Pocket Production – Thane), For the Joy of It (Blink Arts - Mumbai).

Topping the last category of the Awards Night – Professional went to Parallax (The Visual Architects - Ahmedabad) followed by runners up - Faulen (CreatEwitty Media Notions - Nagpur) , Ranga Deva (Kala Media- Hyderabad) and from Bangalore standing at the fourth and fifth places respectively are Dispatched (Denture Capital) and The Audition (NJM Productions)

At the India's First Digital Awards saw winners from Karachi - Arz e Pakistan (Family Films) who won Gold in the Food and Travel category followed by another film from Pakistan in the second place is Find My Adventure: From London to Hunza (Wormhole Productions). Chitrakshi Calcutta (Soulotripper- Mumbai) , McleodGanj (Ashta & Lakshay - Delhi) and in fifth place is Your Wanderlust (Wandering Minds - Mumbai).

Wedding and Celebration category gave away two awards to the production team - House on the Clouds on winning Gold & Silver for their wedding movies Anisha X Phyl Nandini X Anshul followed by Greatful Hearts (The Wedding Filmer – Mumbai), Falling in Love (Visualeyes - Hyderabad), And it Begins (Bioscope Film Company - Rajkot), Niklesh Malkani (Say cheeze photography - Mumbai). In the Short Films category, the winners from first place onwards are Blind Spot (Culture Machine Media Pvt. Ltd. - Mumbai), Acche Din (Humara Movie- Mumbai), The Break Up (IdeaBox Pictures - Chennai), Akuri...and a pinch of hope (Axis Jump Films - Mumbai), Two point three (Ritesh Varma - Mumbai). In the segment for Web Series, gold went to it's Not That Simple (Viacom18 Digital Ventures), silver to Little Things (Dice Media) and bronze to CM CM Hota Hai! (Web Talkies Digital Media Private) all from Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Ads and Brand Films showcased amazing adverts with Amitab
h Bachchan Unblushed (Culture Machine Media Pvt.Ltd – Mumbai) at the top followed by Amil (Little Lamb Films Pvt. Ltd - Mumbai), Is That You? #ChangeTheRhyme (Culture Machine Media Pvt.Ltd - Mumbai) and Milton (Little Lamb Films - Mumbai) with Jugni: where you meet friends on a solo trip (Bugzy's photography – Delhi) in the last place. Other winners in the categoryAnimation and motion graphics saw the following top to bottom winners respectively: "Ok Jaanu" (Plexus - Mumbai), Channel (Qanka Animation Studio - Mumbai), The Sniper (The Indian Artist - Kolkata), Nostalgia (ADR films – Delhi). Also in the category Music Videos - Khudi (Jungle Book Entertainment), Rihaal (Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute - Kolkata), General Alert (Bhartiya Digital Party - Pune), TaDhom(More Films - Mumbai), Netaji - a malayalam Musical (First Print Studios - Kolam), R E F L E C T I O N (The Other World) from Malappuram were the winners in ascending order.

In a conversation on "Juggling Hats - Good, Bad or Ugly?" with Kunal Kohli, veteran actor Makarand Deshpande and Sameer Saxena from TVF originals discussed sensibilities of finding their fit in movie making. Kunal Kohli says, "happy to pass away on the set!" and that he loves each aspect of filmmaking from writing, pitching stories, direction or even writing music lyrics he is equally driven. While Sameer quit corporate world to become a Director, Makarand Deshpande at an early age quit cricketing to pursue a career where he can never retire and became an actor.

Anupama Chopra in a discussion shared her journey of being a critic during the Q&A session. She pointed out that Interviews in India lack core questions pertaining to the movie itself unlike in the west where interviews are only done after release of a movie. In this shift of print to digital medium, she feels her reviews of critic have remained the same or maybe more conversational owning to the digital platforms.

Directors Nikhil Advani and Somnath Sen in a discussion on"Blurring Lines Between Commercial and Parallel Cinema" view the cinema as one without tagging it as mainstream or commercial. Somnath Sen gave an example of upcoming movie Judwa 2 as a perfect way of Indian storytelling that emotes our culture through songs and comic drama raising it's audiences emotions.

Famous for their comic gimmicks, Youtubers Carryminati - a roast expert and Prajakta Koli an ex-radio jockey busted myths for first-time Youtubers to keep content as the key highlight irrespective of basic or professional setup.

Concluding the 2-day festival with Awards Night, India Film Project witnessed great discussion panels, workshops and award events with a huge quantum of filmmakers and writers exploring new dimensions of content creation and awaits for the 8^th edition pushing the dreams of aspiring filmmakers.