Bhandarkar donates prize money to bereaved farmers' families

Mumbai, Sep 2 (IANS) Bollywood filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, who won the National Award for best film director for his film 'Traffic Signal', has donated the prize money to the families of three debt-ridden farmers from Maharashtra who committed suicide.

Bhandarkar received the award with a cash prize of Rs.250,000 Tuesday from President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi.

'This year, I came across many stories of farmers who had ended their lives to evade the debt trap they were in,' Bhandarkar said in a release issued here late Tuesday evening.

'It was extremely moving for me and hence, I decided to donate the prize money. I always wanted to help the underprivileged and this is an honour to serve society,' he added.

Bhandarkar has chosen the families of Kashinath Dagdu, Prakash Darne and Shamrao Kannake on the basis of 'thorough research'.

He said: 'As my movies always portray a real face of society, I really want to help people by any means.'

Bhandarkar has won national awards for his earlier films 'Chandni Bar' (2002) and 'Page 3' (2005).