The 37th Maharashtra State Marathi Film Festival was held on April 30 at the Dadaji Kondadeo Stadium, Thane. This annual festival at which awards for the best Marathi films produced in the previous year as well as awards for the bests in other categories are presented to the winners is usually held in Mumbai but this year the honour was given to Thane. On five earlier occasions the festival has been held outside Mumbai, the cities being Akluj, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Aurangabad and Nashik. The awards announced and presented at the festival in Thane were in respect of the Marathi films produced in the year 1999.

The award winners:
Best Film: Gaabhara produced by the Natinal Film Development Corporation.

Best Director: Rajiv Khandagale (Gaabhara).
2nd Best Film: Gharabaher produced by Suyog Chitra.

2nd Best Director: Chandrakant Kulkarni (Bindhast).

3rd Best Film: Bindhast produced by Devyani Movies.

3rd Best Director: Sanjay Surkar (Gharabaher).

Best Film tackling rural theme: Maaherchi Paahuni directed by Prakash Hilge.

Best Film tackling a social problem: Ghe Bharari directed by Yashwant Bhalkar.

Best Actor: Sachin Khedekar (Gharabaher).

Best Actress: Aishwarya Narkar (Ghe Bharari).

Best Comedian: Ashok Saraf (Maaherchi Paahuni).

Best Comedienne: Nirmiti Sawant (Bindhast).

Best Supporting Actor: Suhas Palshikar (Gaabhara).

Best Supporting Actress: Jyoti Chandekar (Gaabhara).

Best noteworthy Actor: Mohan Joshi (Gharabaher).

Best noteworthy Actress: Sukanya Kulkarni (Ghe Bharari).

Best Child Artiste: Nimish Kathale (Lekroo).

Best Story: Vijay Kuvlekar (Gharabaher).
Best Screenplay: Ajit Dalvi and Prashant Dalvi (Bindhast).

Best Lyric: Dasu Vaidya (Bindhast).

Best Music Director: Achyut Thakur (Ghe Bharari).

Best Playback Singer (male): Shankar Mahadevan (Sakhi Maazi).

Best Playback Singer {female): Kavita Krishnamurthy (Sawai Havaldaar).

Best Choreographer: Sangita Sarang (Aai Thor Tujhe Upkaar).

Best Costume: Sanyogita Bhave (Gharabaher).

Best Make-up Artist: Vikram Gaikwad (Gharabaher).

Best Sound Recording: Pradeep Deshpande (Lekroo).

Best Editing: Jafar-Dilip (Bindhast).

Best Art Direction: Ajit Dandekar (Gharabaher).

Best Cinematographer: Sameer Athalye (Bindhast).

Best Advertisement: Suresh and Ramesh Navadkar (Bindhast).

Best Documentary: Dharavi Ek Navi Pahaat produced by Films Division and directed by Sharad Pethe.

V Shantaram Award: Vasant Painter.

Raj Kapoor Award: Master Bhagwan.
Jury’s Special Award: Mona Ambegaonkar (Bindhast).

Special award for the Marathi film selected for the Indian Panorama section of India’s International Film Festival: Tu Tithe Mee produced by Smita Talwalkar and directed by Sanjay Surkar.

Pandit Shimpi

Sachin Khedekar receives the best actor trophy from Amitabh Bachchan

Anil Pandit
Anil Pandit of NFDC, receives the best film (Gaabhara) trophy from the chief minister. Also seen is Prof More