MUMBAI: Three National Awards winning director Madhur Bhandarkar will be conferred the PL Deshpande Award (Zenith Asia Award) for significantly shaping the film making culture in his unique works and he has been described as The Film Maker of The First Decade of 21st Century.

On the Silver Jubilee Year of Aashay Film Club, this award ceremony will take place on 16th Nov at National Film Archive Theatre during 8th ‘Pulotsav – An Art Festival’ in Pune.

Bhandarkar said, “I am honoured to be receiving such a big award. I admired PL Deshpande ji and to be receiving an honour that is in his name is something I will cherish forever.”

PL Deshpande was a renowned writer, stage and film actor and his literary works are still revered in Maharashtra and others parts of the world. In his honour, Zenith Asia Award will be given to Bhandarkar and his film Chandni Bar will also be screened during the fest amongst landmarked 25 films from the world cinema.