Stanley Ka Dabba gets a unique award at the Giffoni fest in Italy, but its little protagonist misses the big day

Stanley Ka Dabba child actor Partho Gupte missed out on one of the most glorious moments of his young life.

On Friday, Partho and his father director Amole Gupte were supposed to be in Italy for the Giffoni Film Festival to accept a humanitarian award. Unfortunately, a passport goof-up ruined the moment of joy.

Explains Amole, "Initially, only I was invited for the Giffoni festival, but I refused to go without my wife (film editor Deepa Bhatia) and son Partho. We then discovered that Partho's passport had expired last November."

However, Amole managed to renew his son's passport on time through tatkaal. But then began the chase for the visa.

Says Amole, "We bought the air tickets and were assured that we'd get the visas on the morning of our departure to Italy on Friday, all thanks to the intervention of my filmmaker-friend Aditya Bhattacharya who is married to an Italian and lives in Rome.

However, the visas didn't come through. We had to cancel our tickets. Partho missed out on an important event connected to our film."

It isn't often that a film, especially an Indian one, wins a humanitarian award at an international film festival.

That's exactly what SKD has done by winning the special ActionAid award at the Giffoni, the world's largest children's film festival.

ActionAid is an organisation campaigning for a hunger-free world. In SKD, the theme of food for children is predominant making it an easy choice for the award.

Amole feels it's a triumph for cinema on children in India. Gupte, who was also closely involved with Taare Zameen Par, feels more Bollywood stars need to support children's films.

"When I see someone like Salman Khan pitching in for a children's film like Chillar Party, my heart swells with pride," he says appreciatively.