Young talent Shubhashish Bhutiani was knocking at the Oscar gates with his very first short film ‘Kush’ being shortlisted for the 2014 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. The short film that went on to win the Orrizonti Prize for Best Short Film at its premier at the Venice International Film Festival  including the prestigious National Award and a further  25 international awards.  And now the 25-year-old is all set to wow Venice once again with his debut feature film – ‘Mukti Bhawan’ (Hotel Salvation) – that will premiere there in September.

Thrilled with his film being lined alongside the best in world cinema, an elated Shubhashish says, “It’s a great honour for any filmmaker to have a world premiere of their film at such an acclaimed film festival, and more so for me since ‘Mukti Bhawan’ is my first feature film.” 

While the filmmaker is no novice at the festival, this time around he admits to being more excited about his Venice outing. “It’s a warm father-son story, very rooted in India so  I am looking forward to seeing how international  audience abroad receives my film. Whilst the film is  set in Varanasi, the story is extremely universal in appeal and that’s what makes it so interesting. 

Starring powerhouse performers Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl and Geetanjali Kulkarni, Palomi Gosh amongst others, the story of the film was shortlisted in the top 10 from over 400 entries worldwide and has been developed by the La Biennale di Venezia.