The first prize of a whopping Rs 25 lakh was won by Sejal Pachisia from California, USA whose story ‘On the Boundary’ got a unanimous thumbs up from all the jury members. The second prize was won by Digant Patil for the story ‘Guilt’, third prize was won by Soumil Shukla for the story ‘Laakh Maavla', fourth prize was won by Anubhav Chopra for the story ‘Phurr’ and the fifth prize was won by Neetha Syam for the story ‘Footprints on Water’.
In the video of the announcement, Aamir Khan expresses regret that the awards could not be announced at an event as in the past because of the lockdown due to Coronavirus. He also said “Those who did not make it to the Top 5 should not get discouraged. In fact, scriptwriters should continue writing with more enthusiasm, especially during these times. Every filmmaker needs a good script.” Aamir Khan expressed his appreciation for Cinestaan for organizing this initiative and to all those who participated in the second edition of the contest.
Says Rohit Khattar, Chairman of Cinestaan Digital, “I am grateful to our esteemed jury in working with us to bring Indian storytelling talent to the forefront especially during these surreal times. Thank you to the thousands of writers who had applied. The quality of the work was stellar and we would like to congratulate the winners who are truly deserving and wish them success.”
Speaking about the winners, Anjum Rajabali, the Jury Chairperson said, ‘We started this contest with the larger objective of attracting more people to write scripts. It’s very important that we improve the quality of our scriptwriting so that the quality of our cinema goes up. The caliber of scripts in this edition was better than last year and it’s heartening to see that the talent is developing. Thank you to the jury members for giving their valuable time in reading and assessing the scripts. Truly appreciate the Cinestaan team’s hard work. I have not seen this kind of unconditional support and generosity before, with the only reward being to encourage good writing in this country.’
Juhi Chaturvedi says, ‘As a writer, I understand the joy of being appreciated, especially on a big platform like this which motivates us to write more. Congratulations to the winners. I’m very happy that through this contest I was able to be a small part of your journey.’
Rajkumar Hirani while congratulating the winners said, ‘I’m happy that the objective with which this contest was started, to inspire scriptwriters and give them a platform to send their scripts from all parts of the country - slowly and steadily we are moving towards our goal. The caliber of scripts this year has been better than last year.’
‘Cinestaan India’s Storytellers Script Contest’ was launched by Cinestaan Digital Pvt. Ltd. and is India’s biggest Script Contest. The winners of the contest are awarded cash prizes worth Rs. 50 lakhs.
(With IANS inputs)