Kannada film Thithi sweeps awards at Shanghai International Film festival

Mumbai: Filmmaker Raam Reddy's acclaimed Kannada film "Thithi" has bagged the top awards at the ongoing 19th Shanghai International Film Festival and the filmmaker says the response from the Chinese audience for the film has been "overwhelming".

"Thithi" won the Best Film and Best Script Writers in the Asia New Talent Awards at the festival in Shanghai. Other films nominated in the Best Film Category were "One Night Only", "Hana's Miso Soup", "Land of the Little People" and "Detective Chinatown".

"Shanghai is the first place the film is being screened at Asia outside of India, and I was really keen to see how people from china and different parts of Asia react to the film. The jury was from China, Japan and Korea and they unanimously loved this film. The response from the chinese audience has been overwhelming as well," Reddy said in a statement.

"It is hard to imagine the diversity of people, who have seen and accepted 'Thithi', and I really couldn't be happier with the experience here," he added.

Ere Gowda, who has co-written the film with Reddy, is "happy" that people around the world have loved the film".

"Thithi" is na dramatic comedy about how three generations of sons react to the death of the oldest in their clan, a man named Century Gowda -- a locally renowned, highly cantankerous 101-year-old man.

Set in a small village in Karnataka, the three story lines intertwine before converging at Century Gowda's 'Thithi' -- the final funeral celebration, 11 days after a death.

Produced by Pratap Reddy and Sunmin Park, "Thithi" has already been screened in over 12 international and national film festivals and won 13 awards.

It recently won the 2016 National Award for Best Feature film in Kannada and also won three awards at the Karnataka State Film Awards 2016 -- Best Film, Best Dialogues and Best Supporting Actress. The film was also selected for 2016 New Directors/New Films.