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Biljana got Best Actress Award
Dubai,
U.A.E.
Ms. Biljana Radonic could hardly believe it that she was selected as the best actress for
her debut role as heroine in the feature film "Foreignchi Patlin" when the Maharashtra
State Film Awards were announced earlier this year. The film also received the "Best
Comedy" award even though, Ms Biljana assures us, it was actually an emotional drama
with only elements of comedy in it. The awards were distributed in a ceremonial function at
Mumbai in March, 2009.
It was a sheer accident that Ms. Radonic entered the film world. To be an actress was never,
perhaps, in her dreams. She met Ms. Sanjeevani Gavai by chance at a house of a mutual
family friend in Dubai. Ms. Gavai was on the look out for a suitable girl to act as the "foreign
bahu" in the film she was about to produce. She had already auditioned and discarded many
candidates as none of them satisfied her requirements for the role. But Ms. Radonic fitted the
role perfectly.
'Foreignchi Patlin' is based on rural Marathi life and the clash between two cultures. The film
marked the debut of three persons - Ms. Radonic, the heroine, Ms. Sanjeevani Gavai, the
producer and Mr. Pradeep Ghonsikar, the director. And it is for the first time in the history of
Marathi films that a foreign actress acted in a leading role.
An academic at heart, Ms. Radonic was the recipient of Balkan Presidential Scholarship to
pursue International Affairs at John Cabot University in Italy, as well as a prestigeous scholarship for a Master's program at the Kroc Institute for Peace Studies at Notre Dame University in U.S. She has worked for United Nations in Croatia and Kosovo and as Office Manager and Consultant in Dubai. She is also a practising Yoga Teacher and Salsa instructor in her free time.
She has travelled through many parts of the world. She has visited several ashrams in India
and moved around in the Himalayas, but it never occured to her to enter an Indian theatre in order to watch an Indian movie.
Ms. Radonic is an ardent memberr of Ammucare Charitable Trust. She played a key role in
the distribution of Blankets to the poor in North India last winter.
Ammucare wishes her all success in her future ventures.
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