London Indian Film Festival honours Karan Johar, Asif Kapadia with Icon awards

Filmmakers Karan Johar and Asif Kapadia were amongst the recipients of the Icon award at the recently concluded London Indian Film Festival (LIFF). They received the award for their contribution to cinema. The third recipient of the award was writer Hanif Kureishi.

Producer-director Johar is one of the most recognized faces in the Hindi film industry and is known for directing the films Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham... (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Student Of The Year (2012) and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016).

Kapadia is known for his documentaries The Warrior (2001), Senna (2010) and the Academy award-winning documentary feature Amy (2015), based on the life of singer Amy Winehouse.

Organized by the Bagri Foundation, the festival was held from 17 June to 2 July. The hybrid event took place online, in cinemas and at the sister festivals of LIFF in Birmingham and Manchester. Some of the other awards presented at the culmination of LIFF 2021 were the Outstanding Achievement awards for actresses Shruti Haasan and Janhvi Kapoor.

In a statement on the festival's website, Cary Rajinder Sawhney, executive and programming director of LIFF, said, “Dedicated to you with love, this year’s festival showcased our strongest film selection ever, helmed by the UK premiere of a poignant and heart-warming documentary film WOMB (Women Of My Billion). Continuing to push the boundaries of diversity, I’m very pleased that our films have seen audiences flocking to them, redefining images of Indian and South Asian culture in the media.”