Aanand L Rai was in an edit room on Saturday evening working on a film, and when he exited the room, he was a National Award-winning director. At the 72nd National Film Awards announced on Saturday, Aanand L Rai won Nest Director in the non-feature film category for Statue Of Unity: Ekta Ka Prateek. As he talks to us, the excitement is palpable in his voice.
“It comes like a blessing that the intent you did your work with, it is appreciated for that intent as someone is watching it. It’s a blessing,” he says, recalling how he got the big news. “Just half an hour before the announcement, there were whispers that something special might be there. But I had to go to an edit room just before the announcement. I went in at 5pm and I came out around 7.30pm and my phone was on silent throughout. When I came out, I had these bunch of messages on my phone and my team was outside the edit room waiting with flowers, chocolates and big smiles.”
Directing a documentary was a new avenue for Rai too and he insists he came out learning a lot from it. “The one good thing that you learn from such recognition is that har baar kuch naya karte rehna chahiye life mein. You should not limit yourself. My reason for doing this film was that we had a pure intent and it was something new for me to do. I was more into feature films so this was my first time doing this. But the process remains the same. You have to follow your gut and instincts and that paid off. Ek hi cheez baar baar na kar ke kuch naya karna aur usme excel karna, I was very happy doing it. It was a different screenplay, storytelling, so I was happy.”
He adds, “You know about certain things but when you do them on your own, you learn and you evolve. Even fiction does the same. It is very exciting and I got to learn a lot of new things.”
Statue of Unity also marked his reunion with Akshay Kumar, although in a different capacity. Akshay Kumar presented the film. Mention the success of their team up and Rai quips, “Yesterday I called him after the announcement that aise nahin to waise hi sahi, aap aur maine saath mein koi aur award nahin to ab seedhe National Film Award aa gaya hai.”
He goes on to rave about Akshay, saying, “He is a very happy and positive man, so whatever we collaborate on, it comes with happiness. He brings so much of joy to whatever we are creating and the energies are different. It was the same on this film and we had a great time. It’s a proud feeling to have collaborated on a project that has got such a recognition.”