Indo-Bangla joint venture film 'Sankhachil' has won the Indian national award as best Bengali film before its release.

Director Goutam Ghose on Tuesday said Sankhachil getting the best Bengali film 63rd national award will boost the film's chances at the box office before its release in mid April, reports ibnlive.com .

‘Feeling happy that 'Sankhachil', based on Partition, has been adjudged as the Best Bengali film by the 63rd National Award selection jury. It will undoubtedly act as the booster for the film. I remember my previous Indo-Bangla production 'Moner Manush' had got the IFFI Golden Peacock before its release. Such crowning before release definitely whets audience expectations,’ the ‘Paar’ director told PTI over phone.

Ghose also commented the selection trend this year showed the thrust was more on mainstream genre films which strike chord with the larger audiences but said he had ‘no issue with that.’

‘I had been part of the jury for years. It's a highly subjective issue and their discretion. My wishes to the other recipients,’ he said.

'Sankhachil', co-produced by Prosenjit Chatterjee, will be released in both West Bengal and Bangladesh on 15 April.

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