‘Tryst With Destiny” wins Best Screenplay Award at The Tribeca Film Festival

Known for giving Indian cinema some of the most remarkable films over the years, this time around it’s Drishyam Films’ upcoming anthology feature Tryst With Destiny that has managed to win hearts at the Tribeca Film Festival 2020 in New York City. Produced by Manish Mundra, the film revolves around the stories of three sets of characters including a billionaire who learns there is something money can’t buy, a lower-caste couple that attempts to build a new life, and a corrupt city cop who finds himself far outside of the law. Starring an acclaimed cast including Ashish Vidyarthi, Suhasini Maniratnam, Viineet Kumar, Kani Kusruti, Jaideep Ahlawat and Palomi Ghosh, the anthology drama is written and directed by Prashant Nair. After announcing it’s world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier, Tryst With Destiny has impressively won the ‘Best Screenplay in an International Narrative Feature Film’ Award. To celebrate the happy news, the makers of the film have released a few exclusive stills from the film.

Ecstatic about the big win, producer Manish Mundra said in a statement, “This year has been hard on everyone without exception, which is why this positive news means so much for those of us whose passion lies in cinema and art. We have always backed emerging voices and new stories, and are so happy that ‘Tryst with Destiny’, an important film about the best and worst of our country, is getting recognised on an international stage. We can’t wait to bring it here to our Indian audiences very soon.” Director Prashant Nair also shared his excitement about the news and told, “While we couldn’t present the film to the Tribeca audience because of the pandemic, I’m absolutely thrilled with this award, and awed by the incredible jury and their kind words about our film. A huge thank you to my producers Drishyam Films and Backup Media for fearlessly backing it from the 1st draft onwards.”

Jointly produced by Drishyam Films and French studio Backup Media, Tryst With Destiny is the only Indian film which was a part of the illustrious lineup at the film festival. The Tribeca Film Festival was founded by legendary Hollywood actor Robert De Niro and is touted to be one of the most celebrated and prestigious film festivals of North America showcasing independent films from all across the world. Slated for a summer 2020 release, Tryst With Destiny was praised by the jury as a “Beautifully made film.” While the other jury member praised it saying, “How cleverly conceived and executed this script was!” The illustrious list of jurors who awarded the film included Academy Award winning film personalities like Danny Boyle, Demian Bichir, Judith Godrèche, Sabine Hoffman and William Hurt.

Drishyam Films’ biggest hit was the critically and commercially acclaimed ‘Newton’ directed by Amit Masurkar, starring Rajkummar Rao which was also selected as India’s entry to the 2018 Academy Awards. Their last release ‘Kaamyaab’ directed by Hardik Mehta and backed by superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, and was among the last Indian films to be released to critical acclaim before theatres shuttered across the country due to Covid-19.