Urvashi censures National Award jury for honouring her in supporting category
Urvashi censures National Award jury for honouring her in supporting category
Veteran Malayalam film actress 56-year-old Urvashi was honoured with the best supporting actress for her performance as Leelamma in Christo Tomy’s 2024 film Ullozhukku also featuring Parvathy Thiruvothu. Interacting with the media even as she expressed her gratitude for the honour done she also questioned the logic behind categorising her role as ‘supporting’ when both she and Parvathy were contending in the Best Actress category. She questioned, further questioning is there any standard scale for acting? Or is it that after a certain age, this is all you’ll get?” Urvashi didn’t mince words as she added that these awards should make the recipient proud instead of being handed over with no explanation. Adding that this is not pension money to be silently accepted. How are these decisions made? What criteria is followed?”
Earlier, Urvashi faced something similar when she won the Best Supporting Actress award for the 2006 film Achuvinte Amma, in which she played the lead. She mentioned that even back then, there were ‘politics’ and she has only strived to make meaningful cinema over lobbying. She also called on Union Minister Suresh Gopi to investigate the process and advocate for Malayalam cinema’s rightful place.
The 71st National Film Awards were announced on Friday night. The Malayalam film industry has been vocal about good films and performances from their industry being snubbed this year, like Prithviraj Sukumaran from Aadujeevitham—The Goat Life.
From Mollywood, Ullozhukku won Best Malayalam Film, 2018 won Best Production Design, and Pookkaalam won Best Editing. Vijayaraghavan won the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in the film. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan also criticised “The Kerala Story” receiving a National Award.
News Edit KV Raman
