Aurangabad, May 12: The talented Nashik youngster Rushikesh Bhadane (30) has won the award for ‘Best Screenplay’ for the film ‘RIFT’ (Duhi) at the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival, New Delhi.
Rushikesh is also the producer and director of the film. This was the 12th film festival of the organizers – a non-governmental organisation. There were 718 films in the competition. Rushikesh received special cooperation from the Maharashtra government for the production of this film. The shooting was completed in the ‘Sandhan Valley’ of Bhandardara area.
Rushikesh completed his engineering from the Sardar Patel College, Mumbai and did his postgraduate studies at the University of Buffalo in the United States. After that, Rushikesh pursued a two and a half years full-time course Master of Fine Arts (film-making) from New York Film Academy.
Originally from Nashik, Maharashtra, India Rushikesh is a versatile filmmaker specializing as a Director, Cinematographer and Editor. He has worked on award-winning feature films, short films, music videos, documentaries and web series. Now, he is working as director with Dharmann studios, Los Angeles one of the fastest growing social media channels with more than 31 billion views across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok.
Awards won by Rushikesh include Best LGBTQ Film at Montreal Independent Film Festival, 2021; Best International Feature at Madrid Art-house Film Festival, 2021; Best US Feature at Austin International Art Festival, 2021;
Best Picture and Best Narrative Feature at the Los Angeles Film Awards, 2021; Best Independent Film at Vancouver Independent Film Festival, 2021; Winner at New York Cinematography Awards, 2020; Finalist at the Canadian Cinematography Awards, 2020; Best Fantasy Short at Independent Shorts Awards and Indie Short Fest, 2018; Winner at LA CineFest Film Festival, 2018; Winner at Independent Shorts Awards, 2018 and Best Cinematography at European Cinematography Awards, 2017.