SAIFF 2012: Inaugural South Asian Rising Star Film Awards Winners Announced

For their ninth year, the South Asian International Film Festival have marked a new first: their first awards competition and ceremony. The South Asian Rising Star Awards focus on the best of upcoming talent coming out of the Indian subcontinent and south Asia. The ceremony was hosted by actress Sunny Leone (Jism 2) and director Jay Chandrashekhar (Beerfest, Super Troopers), and featured many famous faces including special award winner Kabir Bedi, who was presented with the Star Foundation Award for his decades of achievement in international cinema.

I'm very proud to say that of all of the winning films and performances, only one has missed our watchful eyes here at ScreenAnarchy. You can find links to our reviews of Gangs of Wasseypur, Alms of the Blind Horse, Patang, and Kahaani below. It is also worth noting that three of the major winners, Wasseypur, Patang, and Kahaani also star Indian indie darling, Nawazuddin Siddiqui. That's pretty damned good if you ask me! 

Below you'll find the press release with all of the winners:

The inaugural South Asian Rising Stars Awards, which occurred in New York City on Tuesday, October 23rd, have announced their winners.

The lavish awards show, which was hosted by actress Sunny Leone and director Jay Chandrashekhar, was presented by The South Asian International Film Festival and HBO. Its jury included True Blood's Janina Gavankar, 30 Rock's Maulik Pancholy, writer Arthur Pais, musician Siddartha Khosla, and film critic Rajeev Masand.

Among the winners, Indian superstar Kabir Bedi, best-known for playing the villainous Gobinda in 1983's Octopussy, was awarded The Star Foundation Award for his decades of work in cinema, television, and on-stage in India, The United States, and Europe.

2012 Rising Star winners include:

Best Lead Actor: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Gangs of Wasseypur

Best Lead Actress: Humaima Malik, Bol

Best Supporting Actor: Zeeshan Quadri, Gangs of Wasseypur

Best Supporting Actress: Huma Qureshi, Gangs of Wasseypur

Best Original Screenplay: Sujoy Ghosh, Kahaani

Best Cinematography: Satya Nagpaul, Alms of the Blind Horse

Best Composer: Sneha Khanwalkar, Gangs of Wasseypur

Best Director: Prashant Bhargava, Patang

Best Feature Film: Patang

Star Foundation Award: Kabir Bedi