Mumbai, Aug 17 (PTI) Filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya has expressed his deep gratitude and honour upon winning the National Film Award for best director for "Uunchai," saying his journey in cinema is far from over and there are many more stories to be told. At the 70th edition of the National Film Awards for the year 2022, announced on Friday, the adventure drama film, which centred on four ageing friends readying to scale Mt Everest, also won Neena Gupta her second best supporting actress trophy. Barjatya said his best director win evoked memories of his 1994 classic, "Hum Aapke Hain Koun.
..!", which was honoured with the National Film Award for best popular film providing wholesome entertainment.
"I’m humbled to be honoured amongst the best that the country has seen in cinema during 2022. It takes me back 30 years when ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’ won the National Award for best film. The rush and happiness that I felt as a young director then was crazy! "But today, as I get the National Award for best director for ‘Uunchai’, there is a sense of gratitude and calmness.
The joy and happiness are much more internal today! As a director, my job for the last 35 years has been to keep telling stories. And I'm not done yet, there's much more to come,” the director said in a statement. Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani and Danny Denzongpa, "Uunchai" was released in November 2022 and marked Barjatya’s return to the big screen after a gap of seven years since the r.