Have you been to sunny Goa for a week, and spent almost all of your time working? And only posting Facebook photos from your balcão, of the lovely pool below, and sea with cruise boats right beyond your hotel, into which you didn’t dip even one toe? Sheesh! I was at Film Bazaar, which runs alongside the International Film Festival of India (IFFI Goa), now both under the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). And I watched tons of films for the Berlin International Film Festival—mainly  Film Bazaar films for now—as well as films for the Golden Globe Awards, for whom I’m International Voter. So I nestled in the viewing room in back-to-back screenings, or in my room watching films, and skipped all parties, save the last, when they announced the prizes. Still, I met quite a few people around the film pitching sessions, and over quick sorties for lunch.

One of the lovely people I met is the brilliant actress Amruta Subhash, who has acted in nearly 50 films, series and shorts in Hindi and Marathi. These include Avinash Arun’s Killa (The Fort), which won the Crystal Bear at our Berlin Film Festival, which she had attended; Astu, Firaaq, Raman Raghav and Gully Boy, and acclaimed series including Sacred Games and Bombay Begums. Shuchi Kothari, originally from Ahmedabad, who lives in New Zealand, and had written the story and screenplay of Firaaq with Nandita Das, who directed it, finally met Amruta Subhash here, 14 years later. Amruta had played Jyoti in the compelling 2008 film, on the psychological trauma following the Gujarat riots of 2002. “When I wrote the screenplay, I had imagined Amruta playing Jyoti in a certain way, and later when I saw the rushes, it was so moving that she had played it exactly as I had imagined. I never had a chance to tell her till now.” When she did, they both embraced lingeringly, as Amruta’s eyes welled up. It was very moving to witness this sacred moment.