Apna Asmaan awarded the "German Star of India"

Debutant Director Kaushik Roy has won the 'German Star of India' award for his film Apna Asmaan at the Stuttgart Bollywood and Beyond Film Festival. The Irrfan Khan-Shobana starrer was screened at the festival on July 14 and was selected from eight other movies short-listed for this award, which included Bheja Fry by Sagar Ballary, Manhattan Biryani by James Edward Duff and Anuranan by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury amongst others. The awards were announced at a ceremony held on Sunday evening.

Delighted with this development, Mr. Kaushik Roy who was there for the screening exclaims, "My first film, my first Festival, my first award. I am very encouraged and going by the theatrical success of last year’s winner here (Mixed Doubles), I'm very optimistic that Apna Asmaan will do very well."

Co - produced by Umang Pahwa, under the ImaginationWorks banner, Apna Asmaan boasts of a stalwart cast, with Irrfan Khan, Anupam Kher, Rajat Kapoor and South veteran actor Shobana. The film is about a teenager's journey to be loved and admired for what he is rather then what his parents want him to be. Apna Asmaan takes this story line and gives it the sensibility of an urban thriller, making it an entertaining yet thought-provoking film about parents and their demands of their children.

The Annual Stuttgart Festival selects and screens a mixture of mainstream and art-house cinema from across the world. Apna Asmaan was also screened at the Cannes Film Market in May 2007.