Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Locarno 1974 (ex aequo)

On 27 Down, the Bombay-Varanasi Express line, an older Sanjay is on a pilgrimage journey. He recalls episodes from his life as familiar landscapes emerge along the way. As a young boy, his father, Anna, had been severely crippled by a work-related accident at the railway. Having grown old enough to work, Sanjay gives up his dream of becoming an artist in order to support his family and, with Anna’s help, takes up a job as a ticket checker. He meets a Life Insurance Corporation employee, Shalini, on the suburban train, and after a few encounters they fall in love. Sanjay begins to see life in new ways, but when his traditionalist father finds out about the relationship, he quickly arranges a marriage with a girl from the village. Sanjay accepts the match, reluctantly, but is unable to get Shalini out of his mind and heart. (Memory! International Film Heritage Festival, 2016)