MUMBAI: The Boston International Film Festival (BIFF) 2012 recently awarded a special recognition to Makarand Anaspure’s directorial debut Marathi film, Dambis.

Normally, the authorities of BIFFreceive more than 100 entries from 30 countries of which they only accept a handful of films to screen at the festival. With the recognition, Dambis has become the first Marathi film to win this prestigious award.

The film centres around Dattu, a struggling actor with no talent to speak of. His life changes when he’s hired to pose as a grandfather of little Parth whose parents are too busy to play with him and too egoistic to approach their estranged parents. For Parth’s uptight, MBA mother Neelima (Pragya), Rs 3,000 a day’s loss is more than even his ill health.

Parth has grown to accept his parents’ behaviour. Dattu teaches Parth some tough lessons while making his parents realise that all the money they make is worthless to the love-starved Parth. In turn, the generally disregarded Dattu too learns of love by spending time with Parth.

It is ironical to note that when the film was released in Maharashtra, it didn’t garner much response. “There may be some more reasons behind its failure in the local market, but it’s good to see that the content of this film is being appreciated by international audience,” feels the director.

The film, produced by Sayaji Shinde, Makrand Anaspure and Walmik Murkute, stars Makrand Anaspure, Lokesh Gupte, Dr. Pradnya Shastri, Shubhankar Atre (Child Artist), Vinod Khedekarand Dr. Sudhir Nikam.