Vishal Bhardwaj receives National Award for Best Music Direction

Music composer-filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj was awarded the National Award for Best Music Direction on Friday. President Draupadi Murmu presented the award to Vishal Bhardwaj for his song 'Marange Toh Vahin Jaa Kar' in the documentary film '1232 KMs'.

'1232 KMs' is a documentary based on the lives of migrant workers and the impact of lockdown on them. The film hit the OTT platform Disney + Hotstar on March 24, 2021.To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, India declared a nationwide lockdown in March 2020.

Vinod Kapri was providing food and other necessities to seven migrant labourers from Ghaziabad at the time. However, after 3-4 days, they felt it was "embarrassing" to keep calling him. When their ration ran out, they chose to travel to their hamlet in Saharsa, which was 1232 kilometres from Ghaziabad. Seven of them had left by the 27th of April. Kapri then documented their journey and created a documentary.

Vishal Bhardwaj composed two songs for the film - 'Marenge Toh Wahin Jaakar' and 'O Re Bidesiya'.Vishal Bhardwaj received the award for the song 'Marenge Toh Wahin Jaakar'.

This is not Vishal Bhardwaj's first National award; he is the recipient of seven national awards. His first National Award was for Best Music Director in the film 'Godmother' in 1999.He then received his next for the film 'The Blue Umbrella' in 2005. He received the award for the 'Best Children's Film' category.  He also has a National award for his films 'Omkara', 'Haider', and 'Talvar'.