National award for Qissa

Qissa-e Parsi: The Parsi Story won the National Award for The Best Ethnographic/Anthropological Film at the 62nd National Film Awards held at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan on May 3, 2015. The official citation reads: "For its light-hearted yet comprehensive telling of the story of India’s much loved community, the Parsis. It explores their history, the philosophy of their faith, their enterprise and their way of life, with delight and laughter,” filmmakers Divya Cowasji and Shilpi Gulati informed Parsiana via email.

Earlier, the film that documents the community, its achievements and concerns, had been selected for the 9th Seattle South Asian Film Festival (see "Modern day Qissa-e Parsi,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, October 7, 2014). "It explores the history of the Parsi community, its relationship to the Indian state and association with the city of Bombay, striving to understand the Zoroastrian faith and the philosophy to live and laugh and love that is the backbone of the Parsi way of life, and what makes it so endearingly unique and beloved. As the community is plagued with anxieties over its dwindling numbers, the film looks at the current debates between conservative and liberal voices on issues of interfaith marriages. On the whole, it is an attempt to understand a community which has always been numerically small, yet culturally and socially formidable,” mentions the synopsis sent to Parsiana.
Cowasji acknowledges that her brother Jall "was the invaluable third member of our team who helped shoot and edit the film amongst other things.”