Anupam Kher at Kashish

With the objective of recognizing excellence in cinema, National award winning actor Anupam Kher and his acting school `Actor Prepares' will sponsor the top prizes at the sixth edition of Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival this year. Anupam Kher announced that this year a cash prize of Rs 20,000 will be awarded to the winner in the Best Performance in a Leading Role category, in addition to Rs 30,000 to the Best Narrative Feature Film Award and Rs 20,000 to the Best Indian Short Film respectively at South Asia's biggest and India’s only mainstream lesbian, gay and transgender film festival. This is the third year in a row that the actor’s institute is sponsoring cash prizes for the winners.

"Actor Prepares is proud to support Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. Over the last six years, KASHISH has become one of the prestigious cultural events in Mumbai. Indie film makers struggle to find resources and finances, but despite these obvious handicaps have been making good films. Actor Prepares by sponsoring cash awards for the filmmakers and the actors hope to encourage the next generation of filmmakers, who are making films on a community that is marginalized. At Actor Prepares our mission is to identify and groom new talent and encouraging the emerging filmmakers takes this forward by furthering the cause of good cinema,’’ said Anupam Kher.

- Jigna Shah